I was awakened by my alarm clock blaring at me, shattering the great dream I was
having as I rolled out of bed and staggered into the bathroom.  After taking care
of my morning rituals I got dressed and headed into the kitchen for some
breakfast, hurrying so I wouldn't be late for school.

As usual, my mom was already at work.  She works the day shift at the county
hospital as a nurse and works harder than she should have to. After my dad left
us four years ago, Mom's had to work hard to keep up the house payments and
everything else.  She had left me a note telling me she wouldn't be home until
real late, so I should fix myself something for supper tonight.

Well, that sounds like Mom all right.  She puts all of her energy into her job
and doesn't spend too much time worrying about me.  Of course, she doesn't have
to, because I'm quite capable of caring for myself. I've always been like that,
and I like it that way.

I get into my car and drive to school, hoping it doesn't brake down again.  It's
about ten years old and doesn't run very well, and has about 3 million miles on
it, but at least I don't have to walk everywhere.

I pull up in the parking lot and walk to class, getting there just in time.  I'm
a freshman in my local college and get good grades, and don't have to try very
hard.  I don't have that many friends, mostly 'cause I'm eternally shy.  I have a
few buddies I talk too sometimes, but I don't know any of them very well, my
mother and I have move around a lot.

She has a very nasty temper and has gotten fired many times in the past, or has
simply quit because of bad relations at work.  She's good at what she does, its
just that temper of hers.  Believe me, I've experienced it first hand quite often
in the 19 years since I was born into this world.

School was boring as usual and I got home only to find my mom on the sofa crying
her eyes out.  I closed the door and went over to her, concerned. My mother is a
very strong, stubborn lady, and she NEVER cries unless a earth-shattering event
has taken place in her life, like dad leaving us for example.  That was one of
the only times I've EVER seen her cry. "Mom, are you okay?  What's wrong?"  I sat
down beside her and tried to comfort her as best I could.  She fell into my arms
and hugged me, burying her head in my shoulder and continued sobbing
hysterically.

After a while, she calmed down enough to talk to me.  "Oh, Paul.  Sarah died in a
car accident a few hours ago.  I was in the hospital working when I got the call
from your Uncle.  It was a drunk driver. <sob> Get a suitcase packed, we're
moving in with your Uncle until we get things settled."  She shooed me off to my
room and continued sobbing as I left for my room.

I couldn't believe it.  Aunt Sarah dead.  She was my mom's twin sister. They had
been identical twins since birth and were both very alike.  They even sounded
almost exactly like each other.  I remember times when Aunt Sarah had came and
visited us that I'd called home thinking Mom had answered only to turn out to be
Aunt Sarah.

So we were going to move in with Uncle Jack.  They have a daughter about my age,
her name is Diane.  Diane and I had never really hit it off, although we didn't
really dislike each other.  I got my suitcase out of the closet and began
mechanically packing clothes and personal items while thinking of my Aunt Sarah. 
She had always been the quieter, shy one, while my Mom was the stubborn,
adventurous twin.

We got everything in order.  Mom quit work and made plans with school so that I
could transfer to the local college in Uncle Jack's town.  Yeah, town not city. 
Uncle Jack and Aunt Sarah lived in Maine, on a farm way out in the middle of
nowhere.  The nearest town was about ten miles away, and it was extremely boring
the few times we had visited them there.  I had never really been into the whole
'outdoors' thing, although I do admit I've had had very little exposure to it
here in Chicago.

So we traveled to Bangore, Maine by bus and arrived there on Thursday morning. 
Uncle Jack was waiting for us and we got in his pickup and rode off through the
countryside.  I sat in the back of the truck while Mom sat up front and talked
with Uncle Jack, catching up on family affairs and both of them trying not to
burst into tears in front of each other as we drove home.

As we drove through the countryside, I enjoyed the countryside around me. I
realized that nature has its own appeal to it.  We pulled off onto a dirt road
and drove down it for a while until we pulled up to the house. We had arrived. 
The place looked basically the same as the last time I had seen it.

It was a two-story house with a big porch and lots of windows.  We went inside
and Diane hugged my Mom, crying into her shoulder.  She was obviously very shaken
up.  I felt really bad for her, thinking how broken up I'd be if it had been Mom
instead of her twin.

We sat and talked some, about Mom and me coming to help out around the house,
since Aunt Sarah wasn't around any more to do it.  Apparently Mom and Aunt Sarah
had made some kind of pact to take care of each other's kids if one of them died
before their children were fully grown.  Some of it went right over my head, as I
was still trying to adjust to my new surroundings.

Uncle Jack made a bundle writing books, and so Mom didn't have to work at all,
just take care of the house and us two kids.  She was all for that, since she had
been working almost nonstop for a few years.

Diane was a junior in high school and would be graduating next year.  Mom shooed
me and Diane off so she could talk privately with Uncle Jack so we left the house
and Diane led me back behind the house toward the west of the house where a thick
forest awaited us.

"Where are we going, Diane?"

She didn't answer me, just walked off purposely toward the edge of the wood,
while I followed her.  We began walking through the trees on a trail that I could
barely make out.  There was a lot less sunlight now because of the thick expanse
of trees overhead.  We walked for a while and finally came upon a clearing where
a stream babbled into a small lake.  It was quite impressive.

"Wow, this place is great."

Diane sat on a nearby rock and looked up at me.  "You like it?  I come here to
think sometimes when I'm depressed." I sat down beside her and looked out onto
the lake.  The whole place was very calm, very relaxing.  "I can see why you'd
like this place.  It's pretty cool."

We talked a bit and found out that we had more in common than we had thought. It
turns out that she's as much of a computer nut as I am.  After a while, we went
back to the house and up to her room and showed me her computer. It was a lot
nicer than mine, that's for sure.  My room was going to be next door to hers, as
it turned out, and my computer was packed up in some boxes with the rest of my
stuff, so we began unpacking my things and got my room set up.

She was pretty good company and we became fast friends, taking a liking to each
other after really getting to know one another.  The funny thing was, she was a
girl, and I didn't have trouble talking to her at all.  Imagine that.  Of course,
my mind rationalized, it's probably because we're related to each other.  Yeah,
that's probably it.

As the days passed, we began getting back to normal, and me and Mom took well to
our new surroundings.  Mom was happy simply running the house, and she actually
had some free time of her own for once, so she took up her childhood hobby of
painting.  Mom had been a very talented painter before marrying Dad and moving to
Chicago with him.

She was really talented.  I think we were all really impressed with the paintings
that she would leave to dry on the back porch.  They were all landscapes of the
countryside around us, and she had even done one of Uncle Jack and Diane which
turned out great.  She was glad that me and Diane were getting along so well with
each other, and Diane and I could see how well Uncle Jack and Mom were getting
along.

Maybe I should explain about that.  You see, the farm used to belong to Mom and
Aunt Sarah's parents.  Uncle Jack lived down the road from them with their
neighbors until his parents had died and he came to live with the two twins and
their parents.  They never formerly 'adopted' him but he lived with them just the
same.  Well as they grew up, you can imagine what must have happened when twin
girls and a boy hit puberty.  Filled with curiosity, they started exploring each
other's bodies and one thing led to another.  Okay, they were humping like
bunnies.  All three of them.

Jack was in love with both of them, but he knew he would have to pick one of
them.  The choice was easy when my Mom fell in love with my Dad, leaving Jack and
Sarah to be together.  Once my Dad married my Mom and took her to Chicago, Uncle
Jack and Aunt Sarah stayed at the farm and Jack took it over when their parents
passed away.  They stayed there ever since.  Of course, once Jack became a
successful author, they quit farming and simply lived off the money Jack made
from his writing.

Well, it was really no surprise when Mom and Uncle Jack started feeling strongly
about one another.  Heck, they were falling in love, and me and Diane didn't see
anything wrong with that.  Mom looked and sounded exactly like her twin, and Jack
was a really great guy whom she'd known since she was a toddler almost.

Well, the funeral went smoothly and Aunt Sarah was buried and the summer went by
faster than me and Diane would have liked.  Before we knew it, it was the middle
of august and school was only two weeks away.

As summer came to a close, Diane and I were in the forest clearing casually
throwing stones into the lake nearby, enjoying the freedom that was soon to be
stolen from us.  We had been talking to each other about our goals in life and
what we wanted to do with ourselves after graduation. "I'm thinking about
becoming a botanist, because I love nature.  What about you Paul?"  I sat there,
looking out onto the lake, lazily skipping a stone across the water.  "I don't
know.  I've never really thought about it much, I suppose.  I want... I dunno. 
I'd like a job that would let me explore places, ya know, roam all over the world
meeting new people and cultures. That's what I'd like to do."

"That sounds interesting.  Look we better get back, its getting dark." I looked
around and noticed she was right.  It was early evening already! Where had the
time gone?  We walked back to the house and sat down to supper, talking about
this and that and soon I was in my room, completely bored out of my skull again. 
I played some computer games then read some, but nothing helped, so I decided to
take a walk.  It was still light out, this time of year it got dark a lot later
in the evenings and there was still enough light to see.  I was going to ask
Diane to come with me, but she was helping my mother with some sewing or
something.

I've learned to get scarce real quick when my mother starts sewing and was glad
Diane would be her guinea pig from now on.  I walked out into the cool evening
air and headed for the trees that seemed to be calling to me.

I walked through the trees, following the trail that lead to the lake, and was
surprised to find that I wasn't where I thought I had been.  I must have deviated
from the trail somewhere along the way and started down a different trail by
mistake.  I looked around me and it was almost pitch black now.  Where had my
mind been wondering while the sun went down?

I felt like I had been walking for only a few minutes but look at the dark sky. 
I was confused and lost, not knowing how far I had walked or what direction home
lie in.  I sat against a tree and took stock of my situation.  I could either
stumble blindly in the dark trying to find my way back home, or I could stay
right where I was until morning and then have the sunlight to aid me.

Well, as wonderful as sleeping on a bed of dry twigs sounded, I decided to try
and find my way home there and then.  I tried to backtrack and go the way that I
had came, but when I had came here, I had been letting my mind wander, not paying
attention to where I was going.  Soon I came to a small clearing and was
overjoyed when I saw the lake in front of me.

I could see where I was now.  I was on the other side of the lake as the other
clearing that I was used to and began quickly circling the lake shore, glad I
would get home to my bed as I was very tired by then. Suddenly my feet came out
from under me and I was falling into darkness. I only fell a small distance, and
then hit the ground with a thud, landing on my left leg badly.  I screamed in
pain and passed out, my last tangible thought being about the strange pit I had
fallen into.

Chapter 2

I opened me eyes and found myself in some kind of pit.  There were twigs and
leaves scattered about everywhere and my leg was throbbing painfully. Suddenly
the previous night's events came back to me.  I had fallen into this pit last
night.

I tried to get up but my leg was hurting pretty badly and I couldn't stand.  I
looked around me and realized I was pretty helpless unless someone came looking
for me.

I yelled for a while, hoping someone would hear me, but my throat got hoarse and
I quit after an hour or two.  Just then I heard what sounded like a low growl
from the top of the pit.  I couldn't see anything but I thought I heard footsteps
up there.

"Anybody there?  My legs hurt, and I can't get up.  Is that you Diane?"

I looked up and was face to face with ... a tiger? In Maine? I must be going
nuts.  Well it would explain the growling and the footsteps that I had hea...A
TIGER!?!  I did a double take as the great orange beast jumped down into the pit
gracefully landing at my feet.  I started backing away towards the other end of
the pit, but fear kept me immobile.

The beast slowly walked towards me, eyeing me strangely.  It was right in front
of my face, I couldn't breathe.  It raised a mighty paw near my head, and
everything went black.

The next thing I knew, I was lying in bed, someone was putting a damp cloth on my
forehead, making soothing sounds to me.  I figured it was Mom, and I was about to
tell her about the weird nightmare I'd just had when I opened my eyes.  I was
lying on the ground, on my back, and some strange lady was sitting next to me,
looking at me worridly.

I looked up at her.  She had long black hair that flowed down her back and deep
piercing green eyes.  She had a small petite figure that was very well muscled. 
She looked like an athlete.  Her breasts were smaller than average, but looked
wonderful nonetheless.  She was still looking at me as if she was worried about
me.

"I, uh..I," I started ut she quickly silenced me and pulled a small vial out of a
hidden pouch and put it to my lips.  "Drink," she quietly said.  I did, and
immediately my leg stopped hurting, and I felt wonderful!  I don't know what that
stuff was, but it had done its stuff.

I smiled at her, and thanked her, and was about to introduce myself when she
suddenly leaned forward and kissed me full on the lips.  Who was I to protest if
she wanted to kiss me, heck she'd just saved my life for all I knew.  Our mouths
locked together and we kissed deeply as she pressed her body hard against mine,
her arms encircling me, drawing me closer into her embrace.

We kissed for what seemed like hours, and when we finally broke for air, she laid
her head down on my chest and seemed to simply enjoy being in my embrace.  It was
a rather nice feeling, holding her in my arms.  I heard a funny sound coming from
deep within her chest and realized she was purring!

I looked down at her and was shocked at what I saw, or rather what I hadn't seen
earlier.  She wasn't human.  That was for sure.  She seemed to be half woman -
half tiger!  Her face had a soft muzzle like a cats, her ears and nose had feline
overtones and she even had tiny whiskers.  She was still very beautiful, the
feline features being very striking on her feminine face.  The eyes that had so
enchanted me were the same, but were now closed as she leaned onto me and purred
happily.

I was beginning to think she had mistaken me for someone, because I surely had
never met her before and she was treating me like a long lost friend or
something.  Not that I minded, mind you.  It was then that the light bulb flashed
in my head and I realized that if she had gone from human to half tiger, she must
have been the tiger in the first place.  Well, this both comforted and worried
me.

She seemed to sense my change in moods and looked up at me questioningly. "Uh, hi
um, My name is Silver, Paul Silver.  Thanks for helping me and everything, but...
do I know you?"  I saw her look deeply into my eyes and her eyes grew wide as she
pulled away from me.

For the first time, she spoke.  "Silver?  You're not he... and yet you are! How
can that be?"  She looked me over and backed up and rose up before me, her tail
swishing nervously.

*****

She walked about the clearing thinking to herself, her tail swishing as she went.
 This is too much for me to figure out, she thought to herself.  But who could
she get ... Arianna!!  She'd know what to do.

Her mind made up, she knelt before the man and gave him a scroll, telling him to
use it once she left, then she quickly trasformed back into a tiger and ran south
as fast as she could.

*****

After she'd gave me this piece of paper, she turned into the tiger right in front
of me (an impressive sight) and ran away really swiftly.  I took a look at the
piece of parchment in my hands.  It had some strange writing on it, but at the
top, it simply read 'invoke me.'

So, being curious, I did.  I didn't see any obvious effects, and I didn't feel
any different.  Just then a small dragonfly buzzed by in front of me and flew on
by, not noticing me.  But wait a sec, that wasn't a dragonfly, it looked like a
tiny person with wings!!

Okay, get a grip.  I'm either going nuts or I'm in the twilight zone. Either one
is good enough for now, I suppose.  I sat down and got a good look at my
surroundings for the first time since that tiger lady had woken my up. I when in
a dense forest just like the one I'd gotten lost in near my new home at Uncle
Jack's place.

And then I saw the lake.  It looked just like the lake I had been circling last
night when I fell into that pit.  Hmmm.  It looked different though. The lake was
a lot clearer, for one thing.  The water was almost crystal clear, I could see
all the way to the bottom with all the sun shining down overhead.  I looked
around some more and noticed a small creature staring at me from a low tree
branch where it perched, watching me.

The best way I can describe the thing is that it looked like a little dragon. It
was about the size of a house cat, but it had an incredibly long tail that ended
in a little stinger or something.  It had the teeth, the snout, the wings,
reptilian body, it looked like a cat-sized dragon!

It looked like it was studying me as closely as I was studying it.  Right then, I
saw the tiger reappear with a girl on her back.  Weird, riding a tiger.  The girl
looked glum as they rode into the clearing.  The girl got off the tiger and
looked around.  The tiger stood up as she turned back into her half-tiger form. 
I noticed that the tiger's white belly turned into the small white gown that the
tiger lady wore.  She turned to the girl and spoke.

"Thanks for coming Arianna.  I found something you need to see.  I can't figure
it out.  I was hoping you'd be able to help."  She turned towards me and walked
over to me, and spoke something strange to me and suddenly the girl behind her
gasped when she saw me.  She ran over to me and hugged me tightly, tears coming
to her face.

Here we go again.

I got a good look at the girl crying in my arms.  She was about 5'2", had honey
blonde hair, her ears were pointed, she was incredibly beautiful, and she was
crying in my arms.  Just holding her in my arms was really wonderful, but guilt
kept from enjoying it too long.  I mean, whoever she was, she had me mistaken for
somebody else just like tiger lady had.

Speaking of which, she came up behind us and tapped Arianna on the shoulder.
Arianna looked back at her than up at me and she suddenly recoiled in shock.
"Y..y..your not Silver!"  She had a very high pitched voice, that was very
pretty.  She looked back at the tigriss.  "Raven, whats going on?"

Raven strode forward, picked up my left hand and turned it over to show my palm
to the bewildered Arianna.  She pointed out my birthmark to the troubled elf. 
Yes, even I could tell she was an elf.  I mean heck, if there are
half-woman-half-tigers roaming around, why not elves too?

The birthmark on my left palm had always been an enigma with me and my family,
but it really wasn't that big a deal, its just a dark little diamond shape near
my thumb, on the palm of my left hand.  But Arianna was looking at it entently,
seemingly fascinated.

At last she looked up at me, and I blinked.  Suddenly I was sitting under a big
tree and I fealt extremely tired.  I could hear Arianna and Raven talking quietly
somewhere near me.

"... parallel worlds!  Its fascinating.  So it IS him, just him from a parallel
universe.  Wow, we've got to get him to Grevlok.  He'll know what to do."

"..need to mate, Arianna.  You and I both know I'm overdue, and it IS him..."

I caught several fragments of their conversation, but my sudden fatigue kept me
from really understanding what I was hearing.  I must have fell asleep, because
the next thing I knew, Raven was gently shaking me, telling me to wake up.  I sat
up and she was kneeling on the ground next to me, except now she was naked.  Boy,
was she naked.

I must have sat there staring at her breasts with a really stupid grin on my face
for god kows how long, but I had never seen a girl nude before, at least in
person, and I was in awe.  She moved over me, until she was sitting in my lap,
facing me.  She was in her 'girl' form again and she looked right into my eyes.

"Paul?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm in my mating cycle.  I've been waiting for months and now that you've shown
up, well, would you mind terribly?"  She looked hopefully at me.

Here I was, god knows where, with a relative stranger _begging_ to have sex with
me.  This lovely, mysterious creature was the sexiest thing I'd ever imagined.  I
shook my head and she proceeded to strip me in less time than it takes to tell
about it, and she was backed up a little until her mound hovered over my erection
and she slowly impailed herself upon it.  I moaned as the sensations washed over
me, Raven riding up and down my shaft rythmically, lost in her own world of
pleasure.

She leaned forward and a fur covered breast came into my vision.  I locked onto
the nipple and began sucking eagerly as she moaned in pleasure.  I don't know how
long this went on, but soon I felt my balls tightening and I knew my release was
coming whether I wanted it or not.  Raven was lost in exstacy as wave after wave
of pleasure assaulted her lust-crazed body. I grabbed her hips and pulled her
down hard onto me as I erupted into her, filling her belly with my seed, sending
me over the edge with insane pleasure.  She never missed a beat and kept moving
up and down on my manhood sending me over the edge several times as we rutted
together for several hours.

It soon donned on me that she was pretty much oblivious to anything I did on my
end.  She was there simply for the act itself.  For whatever reason, she simply
had to have sex.  I didn't wonder about it too much, though.  Not in the state I
was in at the time.

We slowly came back to our senses and she lowered herself on top of me, purring
contentedly as she dozed off.  I lay there, with this beautiful creature sleeping
in my arms, purring no less, and I wondered just who this 'other me' was and what
had happened to him.  I recalled what I had heard her and Arianna talking about
and I wondered how I could get home. I mean sure, it was great visiting lala-land
or where ever I was, but I wanted to get home eventually.

Of course, if every girl here wanted to cry in my arms and then screw my brains
out...  Then I wondered if Raven would get pregnant and have my ... uh, kittens? 
I chuckled quietly to myself at the thought and went to sleep, still holding
Raven in my arms.

Chapter 3

I awoke under the same tree as before and found Raven huddled over a small fire,
cooking something.  Whatever it was, it smelled wonderful, and it reminded me
that it had been a long time since I'd eaten anything.  Night had fallen, and
there was a chillin the air.

I got up and walked over to her and sat beside her, glad for the warmth of the
fire.  She smiled at me and offered me some meat which I took gladly.  She said
it was roast orc, whatever that is.  Tasted like chicken.

After our meal, I asked where Arianna had gone, and Raven was quiet for a minute,
and then looked up at me with guilty expression on her face. "She has gone to
fetch her teacher, the old wizard.  He should be able to get you home.  Thank you
for helping me in my .. ah, need."  She looked down at her hands and blushed
crimson.  "Ever since I got this curse, I have to mate every month or I start
getting nasty.  The tiger I turn into gets really bloodthirsty if I don't have ..
um, well mate.  And it can't be with just anybody either.  It has to be with my
um, well uh..."

She looked over at me and blushed again.  "It has to be with someone I'm in love
with."  She looked down at the ground, embaressed at her revelation. Before I
could even *begin* to digest that remark, she continued. "Your other self, um the
one from this world was my uh.. husband.  He was a sorcerer just like his
half-sister Arianna.  I'm supposed to take you to her father's keep tomorrow, by
the way."

She sat back and looked at me, trying to gauge my reaction to her news.  To be
honest, I didn't know what to think.  I mean wizards and elves and ... My
thoughts went back to Raven.  She had been married to me.  Well, my other self
had been.  It was kind of confusing.

"Raven, uh about what we did earlier.  Um, what if you got pregnant?"

She beamed at me when I mentioned it.  "Oh I hope so!  That would be grand!! Oh
but I guess you wouldn't know, would you?  You see, my curse, the lycanthropy, is
a special case.  I can only be cured by having your baby. Well, his.  When we
first met, I was a bitter enemy of your other selve's, and ... well that's all
you need know right now.  But yes, if I concieved, I'd be cured."

She was visibly upset, and refused to talk anymore, as she transformed into the
tiger and curled up near the fire and went to sleep.  I laid down beside her and
fell asleep sooner than I expected.  I awoke once during the night, having to
relieve myself and when I returned to the fire, she was a girl once again.  I
curled up to her and fell asleep once again, only to wake up seemingly minutes
later when morning arrived.

We set off at a good pace through the forest and in no time flat came out of the
forest into a grassy field.  I could see what looked like a small castle in the
distance, and we headed towards it.  As we got nearer to it, I noticed it wasn't
a proper castle at all, it looked like the whole thing had grown right out of the
ground!  The walls of the place were actually trees grown together.  The closer
we got to it, the more impressive it seemed.  It wasn't long before I could see
people walking about doing their thing, carrying things or leading animals to and
fro.  Most of them were elves but I could see lots of different races there as
well, some of which I could only guess at what they were.

Raven led me to the gatehouse and we entered the keep with a minimum of fuss once
they saw her.  She led me through a tangle of corridors where we passed elven
guards who were extremely suprised to see me.  Or at least they gave me some very
weird looks.

Raven was being quiet through this whole trip and I was about to ask her
something when we arrived in a large chamber.  Two guards bade us enter, and we
walked in and walked towards a group of people who were gathered around a great
table, talking amongst themselves.

When we arrived at the foot of the table, they stopped and looked at us. Raven
nodded her head at the old looking one in the middle and then introduced me. 
"Lord Everland this is Paul Silver.  Paul this is Lord Everland, Overseer of the
great forest."

I studied the old elf carefully.  He had greying blonde hair, intense blue eyes
and a mile-wide grin that assured me he was a friendly sort.  They all seemed
rather nice and I assure you all those nasty rumours you've heard about elves are
complete hogwash.

Raven told them about her finding me in the forest and how she had contacted
Arianna and shown me to her.  They talked long and hard about it and I answered
more questions than I'd care to recall, but they were nice enough about it.  We
had lunch with them and then they allowed us to depart.  We went through a maze
of corridors again (this place was a lot bigger than it seemed from the outside)
and arrived at a room and entered.

It turned out that Raven had her own room there at the keep because of her
relationship with Arianna.  She sat me down and explained a little about the
surrounding area and its people.  This was the heart of elven country.  To the
east was a dwarven village and to the south was a human settlement. There was a
halfling settlement to the north and a silver dragon lived in a big cave to the
north-east.  I asked her about the dragon.  She assured me that it was a kind
dragon who mostly slept all the time.

"Raven what happened to my other self?"

She looked up at me and was silent for a few minutes, perhaps collecting her
thoughts.

"He had gone on a quest to slay a medusa who was terrorizing a human city far to
the east.  He was gone for several months with no word from him until one day we
revieved a message that simply stated that the medusa had killed him and that we
weren't to go anywhere near there or else.  Of course, a rescue party was sent
but never found anything.  Silver was assumed dead, until you showed up."

We talked for a while longer and decided to go to bed, after the hectic day we'd
had.  She stripped and entered the bed, patting the mattress beside her. I did
the same and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

When we awoke in the morning, we went to a long hall fitted with tables that were
filled with food and drink.  There were people sitting in large groups eating and
drinking, laughing all the while.  Raven led me over to a empty table and we ate
a big breakfast while I told Raven more about myself and where I came from.  She
seemed very fasdcinated by my tales of cars, computers, and radios.

After a little while, Arianna showed up with an old man walking beside her. He
was dressed in a long blue robe and had all sorts of things poking out of the
many pockets on the robe.  He walked up to me and shook my hand, smiling at me.

"I am Grevlok.  I see that you have met Arianna already.  I suppose you have many
questions, come lets talk.  I think you are going to be suprised at some of the
things you are about to learn."  He grinned wickedly at me and we walked out of
the dining hall and walked for a few minutes until we came to a small door set
into the wall, which was strange since the elven keep didn't seem to HAVE any
doors, just doorways with curtains.

Grevlok rapped his knuckles on the door three times and it opened inward
revealing a big study of some kind.  We walked in and he closed the door behind
us, which vanished once he closed it, weird.

"Arianna, why don't you and Raven go amuse yourselves while I have a talk with
our young friend here."  He gave Arianna a stern glance and she led Raven out of
the room.  When they were gone, he indincated for me to sit on a small couch
while he sat opposite me in a small recliner.

"Well my boy.  So you found your way into our world by accident?  Well, I have a
revelation for you.  I'm from your world as well.  There are gateways into this
world from Earth, in fact there are a number of them, but most of them are closed
off on this side so people don't come waltzing in like tourists.  The one you
fell through is an unstable one, and isn't there most of the time.  What part of
the country are you from?"

"Maine."

"Ah yes, I used to live not too far from there myself actually.  That would
answer that, as it seems.  Hmm, well, for one thing as Raven has probably already
told you, you had an alternate self that lived in this world, but has been,
presumedly, killed.  This opened the door, so to speak, for you to enter our
world.  Now we just have to get you home.  As I said, there are a number of
gateways that lead to your world, and others that lead to even more worlds even
stranger than this, believe it or not.  I have one here in my tower that I use
occasionally when I want to cross over and visit friends on your world.  I see no
reason why you couldn't use that one."

I sighed with relief, and he smiled at me and pointed a bony finger at me. "The
question, my dear boy, is do you *want* to leave, hmm?"

I thought about that for a second.  Sure, it might be excting to stay in this
world of elves, wizards, and dragons, but I did want to go home and see his
family.

"Well, why can I go home and visit my family then come back?" Grevlok gave me a
wink and smiled.  "No reason at all, my boy.  I can give you instructions on how
to get back into this world once you've crossed back over."

I talked to Grevlok for over an hour.  He gave me a ring to wear that would allow
me through the gateway.  He told more about my alternate self.  Silver had been
Grevlok's apprentice and had become quite a powerful wiard in his own right.  His
half-sister Arianna was almost as powerful, although she used different types of
magic than Silver did, or something to that effect. apparently, Silver and Raven
had only been married for a few months when he died.  It struck me as odd that
they had married, it seems, on the same day that Aunt Sarah had died.

When we were through talking, I went through the doorway and found Raven and
Arianna talking quietly.  I entered the room and they stood up, smiling at me. 
Arianna cocked her head at me and grinned.  "Well, how'd it go, Paul? Is Grevlok
going to get you home?"

"Yeah, I'm leaving within the hour."  Raven looked sad when I said this and sat
down, looking glum.  Arianna knew when to butt out, and left the room quietly,
winking at me.  She knew I had some cheering up to do. I sat down beside Raven
and took her hand in mine.  "Raven, would you like to come with me?  Your curse
won't work on my world.  And I'd like you to meet my family.  Would you like to
go with me?"

She looked at me and smiled, then fell into my arms, hugging me furiously. "Oh,
I'd love to, thanks."

So, all preperations in order, me and Raven had Grevlok spell us through the
gateway and we found ourselves in the forest by my Uncle's house.  We were
standing in the pit that I had fell in when I had entered Raven's world.  On this
side, it was hardly a pit all, just a small dip in the ground.  We walked around
the lake and found the clearing that me and Diane had gone to lots of times that
summer.

We followed the trail and I soon found myself nearing Uncle Jack's house, with
Raven walking behind me.  I walked in the kitchen door and there was my mom,
cutting up vegetables for a salad.

"Where have you been young man?  You weren't home at all last night."  It was
only then that she saw Raven standing behind me.  "And who is your friend?"

Oh boy.

Chapter 4

My mother looked at me expectantly, and I tried to think up a plausible excuse. 
I mean, I can't just waltz in and say 'hi Mom, meet my new girlfriend, she's from
an alternate dimension' very well now can I?

"Mom meet Raven."  Mom smiled at her and said hello.  "She lives near here. I was
taking a walk in the forest last night when I got lost.  Raven found me and
showed me the trails so that I can find my way through the woods more easily."

Mom smiled.  "Well, why don't you call your folks so they'll know you're here? 
If you'd like you can stay for dinner with us."

"Ms. Silver I live on my own, I don't have any family."  She looked at me kind of
nervously and I jumped in, trying to help.  "Maybe she could stay with us?  There
are a few empty bedrooms."  Raven took my hand in hers and squeezed it happily. 
She liked the idea as well.

"Well, I'll have to discuss it with your Uncle but I don't see why not. Why don't
you two go get cleaned up for supper.  Diane and Jack are in town, doing some
shopping.  They'll be back soon though."

She shooed us out of the kitchen and we went up to the bathroom and we washed our
hands.  She was fascinated by the toilet and shower and I explained their uses. 
She was ecstatic about trying them out, but I left the shower for later, since
she didn't have any extra clothes right now.

We went into my bedroom and talked. "Raven why don't you stay here in my world. 
While your here your curse doesn't affect you and you can just be yourself.  How
does that sound?" For an answer, Raven leaned forward and kissed me.  She hugged
me close and then leaned back; a hungry look in her eyes.

We heard a door close and I realized Uncle Jack must be back with Diane. My
mother called for us to come eat.  Well, better get this over with. We went
downstairs to the dining room and Mom introduced Raven to the others.  We sat
down and ate supper while Uncle Jack and Mom gave Raven the twenty question
routine.  Diane was silent the whole time, staring at Raven in a really weird
way.  With me to back her up though, Raven didn't have any problems.

After dinner was over, Mom told Diane to help Raven get something to wear and had
me help her make up the bed in the guest bedroom.  Raven gave me a worried glance
as Diane led her off to her room, and I went with my Mom to the linen closet.

As we entered the guest bedroom, Mom closed the door behind me and put the sheets
down on the bed.  "Okay young man, spill it.  I know there's more to this than
your telling me.  This whole thing smells fishy Paul.  You know I can tell when
your fibbing, so I want the truth this time, okay?" I sighed and looked down at
my feet.  You wants it, you gots it.  I took a deep breath and told her
everything.  Yeah, everything.  I figured I might as well.  To prove my story, I
showed her the ring that Grevlock gave me, the ring that could get me back to
Raven's world.

Mom took it well, better than I thought she would.  "You mean to tell me that
that girl was married to your other half or whatever?"

"Yeah, apparently.  It sounds like they got married the same day Aunt Sarah died.
 After Silver disappeared, she just wandered around mostly until I showed up.  I
think she's got me confused with him, I mean me, um you know, my other self."

She nodded her head yes and put her hand on my shoulder.  "You have feelings for
her don't you."  I nodded without looking at her.  "My other half knew her all
his life and the two of them didn't get together until just recently.

But with me, it was love at first sight, I think.  Of course," I grinned at Mom,
"my first sight of her was after she'd kissed me.  You should of seen her, she
was half girl-half tiger.  I think what got me the most was when she simply laid
there in my arms and purred.  She was so happy to see me, it just melted me, you
know?  I mean sure, she thought I was Silver.  But we are the same person.  And
it seems that she's transfered all the love for him over to me."

I continued.  "But you know what, Mom?  It occurs to me that on this side, I was
only gone for one night, but over there, I was there for almost a week. I wonder
how long it would be, let's say, if I stayed over there for a month or a year? 
Would a few days pass, a week?  Time must pass quicker over here than it does
over there."

We made the bed and as we were changing the pillow cases, Mom kept the
conversation going.  "So, now what?  Is Raven going to stay here with us
permanently?"

"I don't know.  I asked her something similar, and she said that it would be hard
to stay away from her world, away from her friends and stuff.  But I told her we
can go visiting there when ever she wants, now that I know how to get over there.
 I'll bet Diane would get along great with Arianna."

Mom smiled at me.  "What's she like?"

"Well, she's Silver's half-sister.  As far as I can make out, their father was an
elf and their mother (your other self I guess) is human.  But she doesn't talk
about them much.  So, Silver must have been half-elven too. Anyway, Arianna.  She
has blonde hair, and a really high-pitched little girl type voice.  Oh, and she
has your eyes too."

Mom sobbed and sat down on the bed, sad all the sudden about something. I went
around the side of the bed to her.  "Mom whats wrong?  Did I upset you?"  She
looked up at me with tears in her eyes and held her arms out to me.  I went to
her and she hugged me close.

"Paul, I've never told anyone this, I tried to forget it myself, but your talking
about Arianna just brought it all back to the surface.  Before I met your Dad, I
had been engaged to another man.  His name was Harold and we were going to be
married but we got in a car accident and he died.  I was seven months pregnant at
the time a..."  she stopped at this point and cried in my shoulder as I held her
and tried to comfort her.

After a minute or two, she continued.  "When I woke up in the hospital, they told
me the baby had died.  It was a girl, Paul.  They both died that day. I was in
terrible pain for months until I met your father.  Don't you see, Paul?  Arianna
is the daughter I should have had."  She cried for a while longer but then I had
an idea.  "Mom, why don't I get Arianna to come visit us?  I'm sure she'd be
happy to.  She looked up at me and smiled, wiping away her tears.  "You think she
would?"

"Sure, she's very nice.  Lemme try this ring out now."

I looked at the ring and wondered how it was supposed to work.  I mean, magic
wouldn't work on this side, would it?  I read the words inscribed on the ring and
suddenly found myself in Grevlock's library again.  Grevlok looked up from a
large book he was reading and grinned.  "Well hello again, young man. Back so
soon?  Where's Raven?"

I explained to him why I'd come.

"Arianna is in her tower.  Let me fetch her.  He made a few complicated gestures
and mumbled something and a glowing orb appeared before him. It vanished and
after a minute, Arianna walked through the door, looking like she had been
asleep.  She yawned and stretched, only then noticing my presence.

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"Paul, what brings you back here so soon?"  I explained to her about Mom and she
liked the idea.  "Oh course I'll come. Lemme get fixed up though, I can't go
dressed like this."  She looked down at herself and suddenly she was wearing a
pretty green dress.  Her little dragon friend flew through the door and landed on
her shoulder, where it curled its long tail around her upper arm.  "Sudi you
can't come with us this time.  We're going to visit Paul's world and Dragons
aren't allowed there."  Sudi flew off her shoulder and perched on a bookshelf
near Grevlok.

"Okay Grevlok, spell us through."  Arianna took my hand in hers, and we were back
in the guest bedroom again.  Mom had sat up on the bed, and looked a little more
composed.  The moment she saw Arianna, her face lit up like a christmas tree. 
Arianna walked over to her and sat down in her lap, hugged her and simply said
"Mom."  Arianna glanced at me, then the door and I got her meaning.  I made a
hasty exit, so they could be alone together, and I felt so glad that Arianna
could help out Mom like this.

I walked down the hall, and paused at Diane's doorway.  Raven and Diane were deep
in conversation.  When they saw me, Raven got up and walked over to me. A tear
dropped down my face and Raven saw it, concerned.

I told them about what Mom had told me, and how I'd brought Arianna over here to
make Mom feel better.  All three of us were crying by the time I finished telling
them about it, and it took a minute or two for us to regain our composure.  We
bade Diane a good night and went to my room, realizing that Arianna and my mother
might be in there all night.

We went into my room and closed the door behind us, and all pretenses ended with
Raven grabbing me and kissing me passionately.  We tugged our clothes off as we
kissed and soon our two warm bodies were pressing against each other, our
passions rising within us, ready to comsume us at any moment.  I led Raven to the
bed and she lay back on it with me beside her.

Our hands travelled all over each other's bodies, exploring and caressing. I
kissed her lips then travelled across her check and sucked on her ear lobe, which
drove her wild.  I continued down, kissing her neck and then finding my way to
her perfect breasts.  Some instinct bade me suckle on them, which I did with
eagerness.  I caressed them, holding each tender sphere in my hands as I kissed
and nipped at each rosy nipple, gently sucking as she softly moaned in pleasure.

She placed her hands on the back of my head, obviously enjoying the attention her
bosom was recieving.  When she could stand no more, she shoved gently on the top
of my head and I took the hint, travelling southward, kissing and licking all the
way.  I paused at her belly button and gently stuck my tongue as far down it as I
could, getting a satisfying squeal of delight from my beautiful lover.

I moved travelled farther southward until I came upon the black tuft of pubic
hair that signalled the entrance of her tunnel of love.  I licked the hairs and
playfully kissed all over the area until continuing my erotic journey and coming
face to face with her wet and inviting vagina.  She opened her legs wider to give
me better access and I looked up at her.  She was gazing at me through eyes that
were ablaze with lust.  She had a permenent grin etched on her face as she gazed
down at me.  I focused my attention back to the job at hand and looked upon the
womanhood before me.  Her outer lips were soaked in her juices and I licked the
whole length of her slit, gathering the sweet moisture that was uniquely her.

It was sweet and tangy, and as delicious a drink as I had ever tasted.  I eagerly
dove in and began feasting on her sex, like a starving man.  As I licked and
sucked, her clitoris came out of its tiny sheath to greet me and I gave it a
welcoming lick which made Raven arch her back and cry out in pleasure.

Noticing her reaction, I clamped onto her clit and began sucking on it like my
life depended on it, as she writhed about under me, lost in a sea of orgasms with
no shore in sight.  I climbed up on top of her and my manhood eagerly took its
place inside her loins.  She locked her legs around my back as I established a
slow rythem of pure pleasure that had me drunk with her love.

I pistoned harder and faster into her as I leaned forward and locked lips with
her, kissing her as we lost ourselves in one another.  Before long, I could feel
my climax building within me as I moved within her faster and faster. Suddenly I
arched my back and plunged my full length into her as my seed gushed into her
womb, filling her belly with my love.

I collapsed beside her and we laid in each other's arms, perfectly content. I
knew then that I was hopelessly  in love with her, and told her so before falling
asleep.

"Raven, I love you with all my heart and soul." I whispered in her ear.

She replied, "I love you, too." and we fell asleep.

Chapter 5

When I awoke the next morning, I reflected on the events of the previous evening
and my sleeping lover, lying beside me, sleeping soundly.  The sun shone through
the bay window and shown down upon me, prompting me to get out of bed and start
the day.

I shook Raven gently and she slowly opened her eyes and smiled up at me. "Mmm,
good morning, Paul Silver.  I love you."  She rose up into a sitting position and
we kissed, sending shivers down my spine.

"Now I get to show you the shower.  I think you'll like it.  Let's go to the
bathroom and we'll shower together.  "

I dug through my closet until I'd found two robes and we put them on, then headed
for the bathroom.  It was occupied of course.  We waited a few minutes and Diane
stepped out, staring at us oddly, and then headed back to her room.  We went in
the bathroom and took turns taking care of business and then we both stepped into
the shower stall.

I turned on the water and adjusted the temperature, and Raven loved it. "It's
just like standing underneath a waterfall!  We both took bars of soap and
scrubbed each other down, paying extra attention to all the right spots, until we
were both squeaky clean and horny as hell.  I got behind her and entered her from
behind and she braced herself against the shower wall as we rutted against one
another,  letting out the sexual energy our bathing had produced.

When we finished, we toweled off and slipped our robes back on and headed
downstairs to breakfast.  Mom, Diane and Arianna were all three eating in the
dining room and Raven and I made our greetings and sat down opposite them and
began eating.

"So lovebirds, how are you two feeling this morning?"  Arianna asked playfully.

Much to their amusement, Raven and I both blushed at the same time. "We're
feeling just great.  So are you staying long?" Arianna drained her glass of
orange juice before answering me.  "Well, I don't see why not.  A few days won't
hurt my studies too much."

Later that morning, Mom went off to paint and so the four of us decided to go to
the lake and take a swim.  It was a perfect day for it, and Diane wanted to hear
more about Raven and Arianna's world.

As we walked through the forest, I whistled tunelessly, the three girls talking
and giggling with each other, oblivious to anything or anyone around them.  We
arrived at the clearing near the lake and we all sat down to rest and enjoy the
view.

Diane glanced over at Arianna and asked: "Arianna, we know about Paul, but what
about me?  Is my other half in your world?  Have you ever met her?" Diane looked
down at her lap, seemingly flustered at her question. Arianna looked at Diane
seriously, and then gave her a sweet smile.  It was neat having a sister.

"Yes, I've met your other half before.  We are cousins, remember.  I don't see
your family that much, though.  I spend most of my time with my studies, becoming
a wizard isn't easy you know."  Arianna leaned back and looked over at me,
grinning at me.  I smiled back, Raven resting her head on my shoulder, simply
enjoying the afternoon.

Arianna looked over at me and grinned.  "Why don't I take all of you over to our
world for a visit?  Paul you and Diane could meet Silver's family. Diane would
get to meet her other half, and then we could maybe do a little sight-seeing. 
What do you say?  With the time difference between our worlds, we could spend
several weeks over there and still be back here before nightfall."

I grinned at Diane and we nodded to each other.  We got up and held hands, and I
made to use my ring, but Arianna stopped me.  "I'll handle this." She made a
small sign with her hands, mumbled something, and suddenly we were standing in a
small forest clearing.

Arianna looked around and shrugged.  "Oops, way off target."  She giggled to
herself, then gestured again and we were in Grevlok's study again.  He wasn't
there, however.

"Well here we are.  Weird that Grevlok isn't here.  He's always reading this time
of day.  Well, follow me, everyone."  Raven and I had seen this before, but we
were still awed by the place.  Grevlok had taken the stone tower and turned it
into a beautiful place.  Statues, paintings, and all sorts of things were
littered about the place, giving it a festive, if strange, atmosphere.  Diane was
loving every bit of it.

We climbed a flight of stairs and walked into a large room filled with tables
filled with books and journals.  "This is my laboratory, where I study and
practice.  This way."  Before we could get a really good look at the place,
Arianna led us out another door into a small bedroom, which was taken up almost
exclusively with a huge king-sized bed.  Off to one side of the bed was a small
bookshelf stuffed with heavy volumes that looked to me like a set of
encyclopedias.  Arianna made a sweeping gesture around the room with her hand. 
"This is my bedroom."

She led us out into the corridor and turned to face us.  "Now that you've had a
guided tour, let's try and find Grevlok.  I'd like to let him know that I'm back.
 Raven would you be so kind as to show Diane the library, I'm sure she'll love
it."  Raven looked at her, nodded, and led Diane back down the steps.

"What was that all about?"  I asked.

"Something doesn't feel right.  Let's check the lab."

We walked further up the circular stairway which led further up into the tower
and came once more to a landing, a doorway beckoning us.  We went inside and
found the place wrecked.  The tables were upturned, books were strewn about,
chairs smashed.  The walls were scorched black, looking like a tremendous fire
had burned the place.  It looked like all hell had broken loose in the place.

Arianna stood is shock for a few moments, then stiffened.  She closed her eyes
and seemed to be concentrating on something.  After a few minutes like this, she
relaxed a little and opened her eyes.

"Grevlok has been taken by someone.  It looked like a lich!  Oh, this is bad. 
If..."  She trailed off, lost in thought.  She jerked back to reality after a
second.  "We've got to get to Horkshire at once.  The council of wizards must be
informed.  We have work to do."

We left the lab and went down to the library where Diane was, indeed, going ape
over the large collection of books Grevlok had collected over the years.  "Well
kiddies, we've got a problem.  Grevlok has been taken by some creature and I've
got to goto the Council of Wizards and inform them. If you'd like, I could spell
the three of you back to Paul's world, but I have to get going."

Raven and Diane both got up and came over to us, looked at each other and nodded
their heads.

Raven looked at me then Arianna.  "I think we'd like to help if we can, Arianna."

Arianna looked at me questioningly.  I nodded my head yes.  "Same here." Diane
simply said "sure."

Arianna looked around at us and said: "Ok then, let's get moving." We left the
tower and found ourselves on a low hill overlooking a great forest.  Is this
whole world one big forest?  I  began to wonder.  We set off heading east,
following a well-used road.  We were walking at a fairly brisk pace, but enjoying
the wondrous countryside around us.  We passed many creatures on our way, some
friendlier than others, but no one bothered us.

I quickened my pace and caught up with Arianna, who had been walking a bit ahead
of us, lost in thought when she wasn't mumbling to herself.  I walked up abreast
of her and smiled at her.  "Hi, sis.  Not to complain or anything, but why don't
you just zap us there instantly?  Wouldn't that speed things up tremendously?"  I
was indeed puzzled by this.

Arianna smiled back, pleased I had called her sister, then frowned at my
question.  "The council of Wizards put up a magic barrier around the city so no
one can just waltz in and out like that in their city.  Too many important
artifacts and such.  So we have to hoof it I'm afraid.  We can't make it the
whole way today.  We'll be about half way there once we reach Ralache.  Its just
a little farmer's village really, but it has a rather nice inn that we can stay
in tonight."

I nodded my head in agreement and we continued our trek. After a few hours, the
sun started going down and it became steadily darker. After another half hour,
however, we arrived at the village.  Arianna hadn't been jesting, it was pretty
small.  There was a big stone structure on the side of the road that was most
probably the inn.  We headed right for it, and as we got closer, I could read the
sign that hung over the big oak door. It read 'Griffon's Head Inn.'  We walked
inside and the place was warm and friendly in appearance.

In fact, this place was *really* friendly.  There were people huddled in groups
drinking, dancing and singing, looking like they were have a blast. We sat down
at a table in the back of the place and the barmaid soon came over to us and took
our order.  We ordered some food and wine and she left to get our wine.  "Well
this place seems friendly enough."  Diane said, looking around.

Arianna explained.  "Yes, the innkeeper knows me and Grevlok live near here, so
we get free food and drink and rooms because we've helped him from time to time. 
I expect he'll be out here with our drinks himself in a few minutes, once Sherry
tells him I'm here."  Diane and I gave her questioning looks.  "Oh, she's the
barmaid who just took our order.  She's his wife.  He does the brewing and
cooking and she does the rest.  Their both great friends.   They knew Silver
quite well, too.  He and Grevlok sat down some spells on this place that keeps
out most of the worst types."

Just as Arianna had predicted, a large middle-aged muscular man came out of the
kitchen with a large serving tray full of food and drink.  He headed over to our
table and set down the heavy load while greeting Arianna merrily.

"Ah Arianna, greetings dear child!  It's good to see you.  And what's this? 
Silver returned at last!  Greetings old friend!!"  He sat goblets down in front
of each of us and poured the wine himself, filling them happily.  He nodded to
Raven.  "And greetings to you as well, tigriss."

He smiled at Diane, "and you dear lady I haven't had the pleasure.  I'm Olaf,
owner of this fair tavern.  I am at your service."

He nodded at Arianna and me and then left for the kitchen, carrying the serving
tray back with him after serving our food.  I looked across at Arianna and
grinned.  "He seems friendly enough.  Odd that he accepted me as Silver without a
second glance.  That might come in handy someday."

Arianna nodded, grinning back at me, raising her goblet for a toast.  "A toast to
good friends!"  We proceeded to drink way too much and next thing I knew, I was
stumbling into a small room with Raven, dropping onto the bed like a lead weight.
 Sleep was the only thing on my mind at that moment, but Raven had different
ideas.  It seems the alcohol affected her differently then it had me.  She
attacked me with a vengeance, tearing away my clothes and kissing me savagely. 
She was half-tiger again, embracing me with strong arms, her fingers ending in
sharp claws that dug into my flesh as she led me down, passionately fucking me to
oblivion.

I was beyond reasoning, beyond pain, experiencing only the pleasure my groin was
sending to my alcohol-hazed brain.  At some point, I lost consciousness.

When next I awoke, my head was aching terribly, but to my surprise my body ached
just as equally.

I opened my eyes to find Arianna leaning on the bed, sobbing softly into my
chest.  "Arianna... what's going on?"  I tried to sit up but my muscles weren't
responding.  Arianna looked up at me, looking amazed and relieved at the same
time, as she blinked away tears.  "Your alive?  Of thank the goddess!!  We
thought we'd lost you.  How do you feel?"

I looked around me, as I tried to gather my wits.  I was no longer in the small
tavern room, that was for sure.  I was in some kind of large chamber full of
beds, weird statues and stain glass windows.  In short, I had no unearthly idea
where I was.

"Um, I ache all over and I can't move, other than that I'm fine, I suppose." I
grinned a little, trying to reassure her.  "Where are we?"

She looked down at me.  "We're in Horkshire, at the temple.  You've been on the
brink of death for over two weeks.  The priests did all they could, but it was a
close thing.  We thought we'd lost you last night.  I'm so glad your all right. 
I couldn't handle losing you twice!"  She buried her head in my chest and sobbed
again, and I quickly tried to comfort her.  "Hey I'm alright.  Why can't I move
by the way?"

"Oh its just to keep you from thrashing about too much.  I'll have a priest come
take a look at you.  Don't go away."  She chuckled as she hurriedly walked away. 
Well at least I'd made her laugh.  Now I just wish my head would stop pounding
like a jackhammer.

After a indeterminable amount of time, a long-robed tall fellow came over to the
bed with Arianna not far behind.  He came over to me and placed one hand on my
forehead and the other he stretched toward the ceiling.  He looked extremely
strange and I was about to ask him what he was doing when I felt the aches in my
head and body slowly drain away, leaving me tired, but feeling fine.  He took
away his hand and faced Arianna.  "He will be fine now.  He should sleep for a
few more hours, but after that he may leave.  Good day."

He left, and Arianna crossed over to the side of the bed and smiled down at me. 
"I know you have a billion questions right now, but try to get some sleep.  Just
say my name four times in a row when you wake up, and I'll come get you."

I could hardly argue, as I was very tired and falling asleep already.  I slept
for six hours and when I woke up I did what Arianna had suggested and said her
name four times.  I sat up in the bed and found myself nude under the sheets. 
Arianna showed up and brought with her some clothes for me to wear.  "They
belonged to Silver.  This was one of his favorite outfits. I'm sure it'll fit you
perfectly."  She turned around, giving me some privacy and I stared at the
clothes she had brought.  There was a blue shirt, black pants, black belt, silver
gloves, knee-high black leather boots, and a long silver cape.  I put them on and
indeed they fit like they had been custom made, which I suppose, they had.

I cleared my throat and she turned around, and her eyes went wide.  "Wow, its
uncanny.  You like just like him dressed like that.  Now let's get out of here
and get you some food.  I'm sure your starved."  I nodded my head as we walked
down the corridor and out of the temple altogether.  We were in a vast city
filled with creatures and people of all kinds.  We walked several minutes until
we came to what looked like a little tea shop and walked in.  It turned out to be
another tavern.  We ate a light meal while Arianna explained a bit more about my
illness.

"That night in the tavern all four of us had drank way too much and apparently
Raven took the alcohol rather badly and most of her senses and inhibitions were
dulled, leaving her animal side to deal with you.  It seems that even though she
was really just intending to make love with you, she accidentally hurt you rather
badly.  In the morning when she awoke, you were bleeding profusely, half-dead. 
She came and got us, then ran off, crying hysterically.  Luckily there was a
traveling priest staying in the inn that night that healed you enough so that we
could get you here and to the priests in the temple.  We almost lost you."

I was shocked at first, then concerned.  "Where is Raven now?" She frowned,
looking away for a moment.  "We don't know, Paul.  She's gone off somewhere.  I'm
afraid she might think she killed you.  If you want to see her again,"  and she
put quite a bit of emphasis on the IF part, "you'd better find her pretty quick."

I could see she blamed Raven for the whole thing.  "Arianna, it wasn't her fault.
 She must not have known what the wine would do to her.  If it weren't for her
lycanthropy nothing would have happened to me!!"

She looked at me, her face a mask of emotions.  "Oh I know that.  We both know
that.  But Raven probably doesn't see it that way.  Grevlok and I tried to locate
her, but we think only you will be able to find her, since your in love with her.
 Oh that's right, you wouldn't know about Grevlok would you?  I went on an
expedition to a dungeon with a group sent by the council of wizards and we
rescued him and killed the lich.  It was rather exciting, I'll tell you more
about it sometime."  She took a drink of her ale and sat quietly for a few
minutes.

"What about Diane?  Where is she?"

"Oh she went home while you were recovering in the temple.  She'd had enough of
this world, I think.  Once I told her you'd be fine she had send her home."

"Well what now?"  I was still thinking about Raven.  Would I ever see her again?

"I suggest we go back to the tower and consult Grevlok.  He has something in mind
that might help you find Raven.  And besides, I need to get back to my studies."

We walked to a large circular building and went inside.  A stout, old fellow
teleported us to Grevlok's tower after Arianna showed him some kind of medallion.
 She pointed towards the study and stormed off deep into the tower.  I walked
into the study and found Grevlok waiting for me.  "Ah good to see your feeling
well again, young man.  I can see you have many questions for me.  Pull up a
chair and I'll do my best to answer them for you."  He smiled and put his book
down, lighting his pipe.  He began puffing on it as I sat down across from him,
ready to ask him about Raven and Arianna.

Chapter 6

I pulled up a chair and sat down across from Grevlok and he continued puffing on
his pipe, waiting for me to ask my questions.

"Arianna tells me that you may have a way for me to find Raven, is that true?"

"Why yes, dear boy, it is.  I am going to help you create a homing amulet which
will lead you straight to her.  You must be the one who actually makes it,
however, because you love her, and that love is what will lead you to her.  To do
this, I must teach you some fundamentals about magic."

I let that sink in and then thought of Arianna.  "What about Arianna?  She was
acting strangely."

Grevlok looked beyond me, as if he were thinking of something.  "She blames Raven
for almost killing you.  And while its true that she did indeed gravely injure
you, she did not do it with malice.  We both know this. Arianna is a dear, dear
child.  She loved her brother dearly and grieved terribly when we learned of his
death.  Arianna and Silver were quite intimate before Raven came into the
picture.  They had a very unorthodox relationship, to say the least.  Arianna was
ever jealous of Raven when she stole Silver's heart away from her.  And now, when
Raven almost killed you...  Well, Arianna didn't want to deal with losing you a
second time."

"Ah, okay.  Well what about the magic?  You say you'll teach me?"

He puffed away, studying me for a few minutes before chuckling a little and
answering me.  "Yes, Paul. I'll teach you some basic magic that you'll need on
your quest to find Raven.  I'm afraid you'll be going it alone on this, I dare
say Arianna will not be going with you on such a quest of love.  Go up the stairs
and the door one flight up from Arianna's room is yours.  Your room is there and
everything of Silver's is in that room. You may find some useful things in there.
 Get some rest and I will join you there in a few hours to begin your lessons."

With that, he bade me leave and I went up the stairs thinking of everything he'd
told me.  My quest to find Raven.  Arianna and Silver's relationship. Things were
starting to become clearer.  That was why Arianna didn't want to help me find
Raven.  I stopped at Arianna's door and knocked.  I got no answer so I continued
up the stairs until I came to the nest landing and found the door Grevlok had
told me of.  I opened it and walked inside.

I was in a small study with bookshelves lining the walls and comfortable chairs
and low tables finishing the place.  A small glowing sphere hung from the ceiling
giving off a soft light, enough to read by I see.  I looked about the place and
then headed through the opposite doorway and found myself in a small laboratory
like Arianna's, except mine had little vials and bottles with eerie liquids in
them on the long table along with a variety of large books, about the size of
dictionaries.

I picked up one of the large books and it was titled `Potions and Elixirs for the
Practical Sorcerer.'

Okay, whatever.

I put that down and picked up another.  It was titled simply `Ghastly Deaths and
Other Things.'  That one sounded interesting. I went through the opposite doorway
and found the bedroom.  There was a small bed on one side of the room, and a
large walk-in closet next to it. There was a small bookshelf next to the head of
the bed and the books there looked much more delicate and personal than the big
ones in the lab.

I spotted a large wooden chest at the foot of the bed and a closed door that just
begged to be opened, so I opened it and peered inside.  To my total amazement, it
was a bathroom.  Toilet, sink, shower, the whole works.

Weird.

>From Raven's reaction when she had visited my home, I had thought. well, anyway
it was a surprise.  A pleasant surprise!  I used the facilities with relish and
took a long, hot bath that felt marvelous

After the wonderful bath, I dried off and headed for the closet, determined to
find something suitable to wear.  I found a silver and blue robe that looked
similar to the ones Grevlok wore and put it on.  It was a lot more comfortable
than it looked, and I added the black boots.  I flopped down onto the bed and
looked at the bookshelf where I found a small diary-type book on top.  I took it
and thumbed through it.

It was filled with archaic symbols and strange writing.  It looked to be in a
different language or something.  It looked fairly organized, but he couldn't
make anything out of it.  He heard a knock on his door and went to the study and
opened the door.  Arianna was outside the door, with a hopeful look on her face. 
"Can I come in?  I'd like to talk to you."

I let her in and closed the door, then bad her sit down so we could talk. "So
what's on your mind, Arianna?"  I sat down in an easy chair and got comfortable.

"Well, I'd like to apologize for my attitude towards Raven.  I know how much she
means to you.  If you'd like, I'll help you look for her; she's my friend too."

"Thanks.  I would appreciate your help.  Grevlok tells me that he's going to
teach me some basic magic.  It sounds great.  I found what I think is Silver's
spellbook in the bedroom but I can't read a word of it."

She looked surprised at this.  "You found it? Show me!!"  She snapped up out of
the chair and headed for the bedroom where the book was.  I followed her in and
showed her the small volume resting on the side of the bed where I had left it. 
Arianna opened the book and leaf through he pages, her eyes growing wide.

"He was supposed to have kept this with him.  This is his private spellbook. 
Wizards always carry a small one like this with them containing just the spells
they think they're going to need for the trip.  This is the one he made before
going on that quest.  I don't get it!  There's no reason for him to have left
this here.  He would have been at a distinct disadvantage without a spellbook. 
Even the greatest of wizards can't memorize all the spells he or she'd need, so
we keep small spellbooks with us."  She continued flipping through the pages,
noting which spells he had copied into it.

I had an inspiration.  "Maybe he brought along a different spellbook?" She
answered without looking up from the spellbook.  "Well, maybe.  See if you can
find any more books shaped about like this one in the bookshelf there."  I bent
down and began hunting and sure enough I found  two more small spellbooks.  I
showed them to Arianna and she went white.  "He only had three!  And the larger
volumes are right there on the bookshelf!  He left without a spellbook!  No
wonder he perished! The fool!  No offense."

"None taken.  But I was wondering.  It'll still be a few hours before Grevlok
comes up here to give me those magic lessons.  Do you think you could teach me
the language these spellbooks are written in?  I'd love to be able to read them."

She looked up at me and grinned.  "They're written in Elvish.  Silver and I were
taught to read and write elvish as kids even before we even learned the common
tongue.  That's why you can't read any of them, I forgot."  She giggled to
herself for a minute or two and then nodded her head.  "Yes, I'll teach you.  It
shouldn't take long.  In fact, there's a spell here somewhere just for this
purpose.  It'll teach you Elvish in a flash.  She flipped through the big book on
the bottom shelf, found the spell she wanted then put the big book away.

She raised up and placed a hand on my head and gestured with her other hand over
my head and mumbled something and then took away her hand, opened her eyes and
grinned.  "Try it now."  She handed me the small spellbook and I could read its
contents!  The book was divided into sections like offense, defense, controlling
weather, healing, and supernatural.  I thumbed through the `defense' section and
found a spell called `shield from missiles.'  That might be useful.

Each spell was sorted into two sections: symbols and chanting.  You just had to
make some kind of symbol in the air and say the right thing and presto. Sounded
way too easy.  Of course, I was wrong about that.  It took quite a bit of
concentration to make anything happen even if you said the right things and made
the right gestures, you still had to visualize the exact affect your spell was
supposed to have, and concentrate on making it happen.

Arianna gave me some good advice and some pointers and I was glad she was here to
help me.  I didn't want to seem like a neanderthal when Grevlok came up here.

After an hour or two, Arianna bade me good night and left.  Grevlok came after a
few minutes and he seemed pleased that I had gotten Arianna to help me read
Elvish.  We went into the laboratory and he proceeded to give me my first real
lesson in magic.  I shall not write of it here, for it would be disrespectful of
me to do so, so let me just say that he taught me the fundamentals that I would
need to study and learn more and newer spells.

As he put it, I had to walk along the road myself, he had simply shown me the
correct path to take.

I studied almost all that night, learning more about the weird system of magic
that they practiced.  It wasn't easy.  I was beginning to see why Arianna was
always `studying' now.  It took a long time to get to a level where you could
actually cast these things easily.  Some of the easiest spells were easy to
memorize because they were simplistic, like 'light.'

I went to bed exhausted and awoke the next morning to find Arianna waiting for me
in my study, breakfast waiting for me.  "Good morning, I brought some breakfast
for the two of us.  Hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, that's very nice of you.  Thanks, sis."  I smiled my best toothy
grin at her and she smiled back, pleased that I appreciated her efforts.

"So how did your lessons go last night?"  She asked as she munched on a roll.

"Great.  I didn't realize how hard it is, but I'm getting the hang of it. Now I
know why your always wanting to study."  I sat down and began eating with her,
aware, maybe for the first time, of her splendid figure.  She was wearing a
simple silk robe that looked more like lingerie than a robe. It showed her body
off magnificently however.  She is your half-sister, dammit!  Stop thinking these
kind of things.  I was mad at myself for even thinking about having sex with her.
 But then I remembered about Silver's relationship with her and suddenly it
occurred to me that she may just be trying to get my mind off Raven.

"I can't wait to find out more about this amulet that Grevlok is going to help me
build so I can find Raven.  It sounds intriguing." She looked up at me and smiled
curtly.  "Yes, amulet making takes patience but it can be very rewarding."

We finished breakfast and I got dressed, ready to face the day.  Arianna showed
me a few tricks that helped my studies a bit and left to do her studies.  I
studied for a while and quickly started to become a tad bored.

Sure, it was exciting to learn magic, but it was like getting a video game for
Christmas and then being told you can't touch it.  Frustrating. I went down to
see if Grevlok was in the mood for a chat.  I was impatient to do whatever it
took to find Raven.  Grevlok was in his study reading, as usual.  I was beginning
to wonder if he ever did anything else?

When I entered the room he looked up and smiled warmly.  "Good morning. Arianna
told me how fetching you look in Silver's robe.  She's right, you look exactly
like him like that.  I see you are ready for the amulet-making. Yes, you want to
find Raven, I know this.  You don't need to tell me, dear boy.  I was a young man
once too, you know."  He grinned mischievously and bade me follow him into his
laboratory.

He led me to a large table in the back of the room that had strange tools and
books lying on it.  He picked up a small ruby and held it up to the light for me
to look at it.  It was shaped like a sphere and the size of a gumball and looked
extremely expensive.

"That must be worth a fortune!  Can you just conjure those out of thin air?" 
What a neat trick that would be!

Grevlok put the ruby back onto the table, chuckling.  "Oh no, dear boy. It
doesn't quite work like that.  Yes, I can conjure up a handful of gems, its an
easy spell, but it only lasts an hour and then POOF they disappear back into the
void where they came from.  No dear boy, for working this type of magic you need
the real thing.  Luckily I have quite a number of connections that keep me in
stock.  Mind you, I'm not rolling in them, but I have a few for spell-casting. 
Now where was I?  Oh yes, yes.  Now you see, the ruby is for love.  Now Arianna
provided the second ingredient which we need, and that's a lock of Raven's hair. 
She recently brushed her hair so she had it.  If it weren't for her quick hair
brush, you'd be stuck.  Now just wrap the hair around the gem and I'll tell you
what to do after that."

I took the few strands of black hair and wrapped them around the gem as tightly
as I could and then tied them around it securely.  I looked up at Grevlok, ready
for part two.

"All right, now you need to add a drop of your blood to the gem.  Just prick your
finger with that dagger there and drop two drops of blood onto the gem."

After I did that, he had me set the gem down onto a small crystal stand and
showed me the spell I had to cast.  It was a complicated one.  I stumbled through
as best I could, and Grevlok helped me with the pronunciation of some of the
spell.

After we were through, I was holding a small ruby that could lead me to Raven, at
least in theory.  Grevlok explained.  "The gem is set to operate like a compass. 
It'll show you what direction to follow by glowing when your facing the right
direction.  Its primitive, but it should work.  Now, we just need to get you
ready for your journey."

He led me upstairs to my bedroom and helped me pack for the journey.  He gave me
a small sack of gold coins for money and took an ornate silver dagger that I
could use to defend myself if I needed to.  He left, telling me to go through
Silver's main spellbook, now mine, and make a traveling spellbook with the spells
I might need.  I asked him what kind of spells I should choose, and he told me to
trust my instincts.

That didn't answer my question, though.  I took out the huge volume from t he
beside shelf and thumbed through it, hoping to find some kind of index. And sure
enough, there was a rather nice index in the back of the book!  It took two hours
just to go through the entire thing, writing down the page numbers of spells that
I thought I might need and by lunch time I had serviceable spellbook prepared.  I
had even found a spell that protected me from other wizards, a sort of anti-magic
field that would surround me and keep spells out.  A magic umbrella, I thought to
myself, grinning.

Once I was relatively certain I was ready, I walked down the steps and found
Arianna talking with Grevlok.  Arianna asked me of I was ready. "Yeah, I suppose
so."  I was still uncertain as to exactly how I would be traveling.

"Well, have you ever ridden a horse?"  I said no, I hadn't.  They both frowned at
me.  Grevlok muttered "well that blows that idea" under his breath and then
Arianna grinned.  "Guess you'll just have to hoof it." I grinned and said walking
was fine.  With the ruby to guide me, I wasn't too concerned.

I set out immediately wanting to get a good start on things, and walked around in
a circle, getting a bearing with the ruby and headed off in a southerly
direction.  I found the road and began following it, whistling a happy tune as I
traveled, enjoying the afternoon despite the seriousness of my quest.  It just
felt good to get out of that tower and get fresh air.

I don't know how Arianna and Grevlok can stand being cooped up like a bird in a
cage.

I passed a group of elvish children playing in a nearby field and they seemed to
recognize me, waving and yelling greetings in the elven tongue, which thanks to
Arianna, I could understand now.  I called back a friendly hello as I walked past
and soon found myself at a fork in the road.  I checked the ruby and headed down
the right fork, wondering how far Raven had traveled.

I walked down the wide dirt road for several hours before coming upon a small
village that seemed to be populated mostly by dwarves, although I did see and elf
or two here or there.  Since it was going on evening, I stopped for the night at
a inn I saw a little ways off the road.  I walked inside and the place was
crowded.  There was an open dining hall where dwarves and elves alike were
drinking and laughing and doing some other things which surprised me.

You just don't walk into restaurants and find couples screwing!  At least not on
my world.  I usually sat at the back of these types of places, but that was where
the copulating couples were, so I sat near the entrance, feeling uneasy in the
place.  Shortly, a barmaid appeared and smiled at me, and winked.  She looked me
up and down and her smile grew wider.  "It's great to see you.  You haven't been
here in a while, you want the usual?"

Perplexed, I agreed.  Hey what the heck, I thought to myself, go with the flow. 
She left and came back with a large mug of some kind of alcohol and gave it to me
and left.  I took a tentative sip and it tasted good actually.

I sat back and drank slowly and presently the barmaid came back carrying a bowl
of what smelled like chili.  She sat it down in front of me and warned me it was
hot.

After I had eaten, she came back and told me to follow her.  We went up a flight
of steps and inside a small chamber that was filled with young woman of all
shapes and sizes.  She told me to pick which ever two I wanted.  I was confused
by this.  I thought she was going to show me to a room where I could rest for the
night.  I thought I'd better humor her, because this world undoubtedly had
strange customs I wasn't aware of yet.  Most of the woman were elvish ladies that
looked like they were in their mid-twenties.

I picked the two youngest looking ones, a short brunette and a busty redhead. 
They were both extremely pretty, but I wasn't sure what I was picking them for. 
Boy, was I thick-headed.  The barmaid led me to a room where I could sleep and
left me there without as mush as an explanation and two elves looking at me
expectedly.

I asked them their names and they both smiled and uttered not a single word. 
They slowly started undressing and I just sat on the edge of the bed, shocked. 
They were both very beautiful, but I'm a one woman guy. I'm on this journey to
find Raven, not to screw every female that opens her legs for me!

The young elven ladies, now stripped nude, stood before me proudly displaying
their ample wares.  It was time to bring this little game to a halt, but how to
do it?  Well here goes the direct approach.

"Ladies I must say you are both extremely lovely, and I appreciate you keeping me
company tonight, but I have a confession to make.  I didn't realize the nature of
this place until we got here and you started undressing.  I really came here for
dinner and rest, not much else I'm afraid.  Would it offend the two of you very
much if we just slept?  I'll pay whatever is customaryg, for I do appreciate the
company.  How does that sound?"  That sounded so corny, I thought, as they looked
at each other and grinned.

I was prepared to simply go to sleep, but the two young ladies had other ideas. 
They lay down together and began kissing passionately, seemingly not bothered by
my presence.  The brunette began kissing her way down her partner's body, paying
ample attention to the large breasts that seemingly begged for her attention
until she found her way down to the awaiting vagina of her ecstatic lover.  She
turned herself around, until her own sex was presented to the impassioned
red-head.  Soon they were eagerly feasting on each other's cunt and I was
thoroughly enjoying the show unfolding right in front of me.

My hormones got the better of me and soon I had my cock out, masturbating
furiously.  This had been my sole means of sexual release until coming to this
world, and found it ironic that I felt I couldn't indulge in any hanky panky just
because Raven had claimed me as her own.  Now however, my lust had overcame my
senses and I wasn't thinking about anything beyond the two beautiful creatures
happily making love to each other right in front of me.

The two ladies were moaning and thrashing about as their orgasms took hold of
their bodies, and they slowly came back to their senses.  The red-head noticed my
frantic masturbation, smiled lewdly, and reached over and engulfed my erection
into her mouth, sucking happily.  The brunette didn't sit there however, she laid
down beside me and she plunged her tongue into my mouth, kissing me with
enthusiasm.

I couldn't take much of the red-head's furious sucking and my climax burst from
me like a volcano erupting, my semen being swallowed as quickly as it escaped my
body.  The brunette kept kissing me through the whole ordeal and the next thing I
knew, my cock was buried in a warm tightness that I had never felt before, and I
broke the kiss to look down my body and the red-head was pouncing on my cock,
facing away from me, her back arched and her head thrown back as waves of
pleasure assaulted her senses.

The brunette climbed on top of me and presented her dripping cunt to my idle
tongue.  I clamped onto her protruding clit and eagerly sucked on it, making the
brunette crazy as orgasm after orgasm rocked her body.  I came violently, pumping
my seed into the voluptuous red-head's sopping pussy.

She laid down beside me, sated, and the brunette took my wilting cock into her
mouth, coaxing life back into it.  After my erection was standing proudly again,
the brunette impailed herself upon it, pistoning herself up and down for a few
minutes and then she curiously stopped, and she slowly impailed my cock into her
butt, whimpering a bit as it entered her fully,

She sat there, with my cock fully buried in her bottom for a full minute, and
then began slowly moving up and down the length of my cock, giving me some of the
most pleasurable sensations yet!  Her butt was much tighter than any cunt I had
fucked so far, and it felt unbelievable!  I couldn't take much of this and
quickly climaxed, sending my seed deep into her belly. We collapsed together and
fell asleep, all three of us totally sated.  In the morning I paid them both
double their normal fee and left the brothel, for that's what it was, for the
open road and a new day's adventure.

It all sounded glorious at first, and indeed the going was swift and a pleasant
experience, until it started raining.  Boy, did it start raining. It was raining
buckets and here I was in the middle of nowhere on a dirt road without so much as
an umbrella.  I huddled my cloak around me and walked swiftly down the road
hoping to come upon the next town or village or even a farm or something. 
Anything to get out of this downpour.

The funny thing was, I distinctly remember reading my large dictionary-sized
spellbook and seeing a whole section on weather-affecting spells.  Silly me
didn't think I'd need any of them, so I hadn't bothered writing any down into my
small spellbook I had with me.  Good thing it was water-proof!  I checked the
ruby and it pointed to a spot deep in the woods, off of the road.  I shrugged and
entered the woods and mistakenly thought the woods would provide some protection
from the rain, but nope, it didn't.

In fact, it seemed worse, with the leaves of the trees dripping on me as well as
the rain coming through the branches.  I went in the general direction that the
ruby indicated and the terrain became rougher and rougher.  It seemed pretty
obvious that Raven had, at this point, assumed her tiger form because of the
increasingly difficult path she was taking, if you could call it a path, that is.

The woods soon gave way to a low hill and I could make out a cave that looked
inviting.  I didn't even mind if I had to share it with a beast as long as I
could get out of this god forsaken rain.  I walked swiftly towards it and was
glad when I stepped inside.

The cave was much bigger than it had looked.  In fact, it looked like the
entrance to some mine or something.  I walked further into the cave and found
myself in a large chamber with tunnels leading off in all directions. I did
indeed look like a mine of some kind.  I saw various digging tools scattered
about on the ground.

I looked about and heard something coming down one of the tunnels.  I flipped
quickly through my spellbook and made myself invisible.  It was an odd sensation,
looking down and not seeing myself, but before I could really appreciate it, a
small furry fellow came charging through one of the tunnels, looking tired and
scared out of his mind.

He stopped as he neared my general location and sniffed around, as if he smelled
me.

"W-who's there?  Please help me!  The witch is after me!"  At that very moment, a
leather-clad female came charging up the tunnel the disheveled guy had come from.
 She was dressed head to toe in form fitting black leather.  In fact, the parts
of her that showed was her face and mid section.  She spied the little guy and
screamed triumphantly, raising the whip she was carrying.  She didn't see me
either, of course.  I braced myself and caught the end of the whip when it came
down and yanked it hard.  She fell hard onto the ground, emitting a "oomph" on
her way down. That was the good news, the bad news was my invisibility ended the
second I touched the whip.

Before she could recover, I helped the dwarf up onto his feet and introduced
myself to the two of them.

"My name is Silver, I don't know what the story is, but I just wanted out of the
rain when I came upon this little fellow.  He seems to think you mean him harm. 
Do you?"  I directed my questions to the lady, who was getting to her feet and
dusting herself off.

She answered me directly.  "I am Fyre, and this is my dungeon.  All who enter
this place must pay my price.  Those who don't pay get whatever fate I see fit to
deal them."  I was still uncertain as to whether she was really a spell-caster of
some sort as the dwarf had hinted at.  I decided not to take any chances and cast
the magic barrier that I had memorized.

As soon as I started casting the spell however, she zapped me and the dwarf with
some kind of wand and the world went black.

Chapter 7

I woke up in a small cold cell that smelled bad.  I was wearing nothing but my
trousers and boots, and some kind of strange collar was around my neck. It was
some kind of leather and I couldn't remove it.  Okay, first things first.  The
cell door was locked and I knew just how to fix that.  My flame arrow spell
should fix that offending door nicely.

I stood back and cast the spell at the door but nothing happened.  I tried again
and each time I did, the leather collar vibrated slightly.  It was keeping me
from doing any magic, damn!

Things could be worse, I suppose.  I couldn't give any particular examples right
then, but I was reasonably sure of it.  As I sat there feeling particularly sorry
for myself, the cell door slowly opened and a small goblin-like creature stepped
its head in the cell, pointing a sharp-looking spear at me.

"You come now, Mistress see you now."  It grunted towards the corridor, and I
stood up and walked in the direction it indicated.  Time to have a little heart
to heart with that witch lady and find out why she had taken me captive.  I just
wanted to resume my journey to find Raven.

The little goblin led me through a maze of passages and I saw many other humans,
elves, and dwarves being led in groups or pairs down other passages. Before I
could really get a good look at any of them however, we arrived at what can only
be described as a throne room for some really demented person. There were statues
all over the place giving the place an eerie feeling.

The creepy thing about the statues was that most of them had horribly frightened
looks on their faces, as if they were warding off some terrible curse, or
something.  At the other end of the room was a raised dais which stood a tall
black throne.

Sitting there was Fyre, as she had called herself.  She was still dressed head to
toe in black leather, but now wore my silver cloak around her.  She sat there
flipping through my spellbook looking bored as I approached. As I neared her, the
little goblin came up beside me and grunted something I didn't catch and she
dismissed it with a flick of her wrist.  It quickly vanished into the shadows and
I was alone with her.

"Looking good handsome, interesting reading material you've got here."  She waved
my spellbook at me, grinning sweetly.

"Why am I being held against my will?  I only wanted shelter from the rain.

What you do in your own home is your business.  I'm on a quest and want to get
back to it."

She gestured at me.  "Do tell.  I suppose your searching for your one true love,
right?"

"Well actually, to be honest, yes.  That's exactly it.  How did you know?"

She rolled her eyes at me and frowned.  "I was being sarcastic."

"I wasn't,"  I said with a serious expression.

Her eyes grew wide for a moment, then she paused in thought.  "Your serious?"

I nodded my head.

"Well whatever,"  She pulled the homing ruby out of a pocket and held it up to
the light to examine it.  "But please explain what this little bauble is for, it
radiates enchantment, but I've been unable to ascertain its function."

"It's a homing gem.  That's how I'm tracking Rav... um, my love.  I was on my way
to finding her when the rain started pouring and I simply sought shelter from the
rain.  Now will you please give me back my property and let me depart?"

She looked me over and grinned lopsidedly at me.  "I see the truth in your
statements.  However, no one enters my dungeon and leaves without paying a price.
 Would you be willing to give up the gem for your freedom?"

"You know very well that I need that!  I had with me a small pouch of gold on my
belt.  I'll give you that if you give me my freedom."

"Very well, you may go, but never again return to my domain, Someday I will
extract a price greater than a gem or gold."

She took a small bag out from somewhere and returned all my things to me,
including my spellbook and homing gem.

"What about this collar?"

"It will disappear once you leave.  It's just to make sure you stay sociable
until you leave."  She grinned and led me down the passages until we were at the
entrance to her cave.  Just as she promised, the collar evaporated as I stepped
out into the sunny forest.

I turned to say farewell but she was already gone.  I looked at the gem and it
pointed me to the right so I headed around the face of the hill and began
traveling through the forest, glad to be underway once more.

Really, I'd successfully found a warm place to sleep for the night and I wasn't
any worse for ware.  Sure I was penniless now, but at least I could cast spells
again.

I used the gem and followed its directions, and gradually, over the days that
passed, I got closer to Raven and the gem glowed brighter and brighter. I had
just entered a small clearing when the gem grew so bright that it momentarily
blinded me in its intensity, and then an instant later, the gem crumbled to dust.

Great, now what?  Did that mean Raven was right here somewhere?  I looked around
and found myself in a small clearing.  A small stone stairway led right into the
ground and several stone statues huddled around the top of the stairs.  They were
really weird statues too.  Not your typical artistic poses, but horribly
frightened creatures seemingly attempting to flee from some horrible fate.  They
looked very similar to the statues I'd seen in Fyre's 'throne room.'

Wonderful imagery, since I had to go down there anyway.  I took one more look at
the grotesque statues and headed down the stairs into the unknown darkness
awaiting me.  I walked down the steps for several minutes as the light grew
dimmer and dimmer and soon found myself in near darkness.  I quickly cast a light
spell and it brightened the place considerably.

I took a look around.  I stood in a large stone chamber relatively cubic, and
corridors led off to the left and right.  All over the place, more of the statues
littered the place, some with frightened expressions on their faces, some with
sad ones.  One in particular that stood out from the rest was a huge statue of a
dragon.  It looked like it was ready to pounce on something, and I was sure glad
it was just a statue!

Which way to go?  Left or right.  Well, I didn't have a coin to flip, so I just
headed down the right tunnel looking at the statues as I walked along.  Whoever
lived must like statues, or perhaps was a sculptor.  That would make sense.  As I
walked further, I began to get a prickly feeling on the back of my neck, and I
felt like I was being watched.  I looked around quickly but saw nothing.

I walked several more yards before coming to a small jewel-studded door that was
imbedded in the north end of the corridor.  Common sense told me it would
probably be better if I didn't go in there, but my curiosity got the better of me
and I reached out and turned the door knob, the door swinging inward slowly. 
Inside was a small study of some sort.  Book shelves lined the walls, and a
wooden desk sat in one corner with a recliner stuffed in another.

That wasn't what caught my attention.

A computer, of all things, was sitting on top of the desk, looking extremely out
of place.

But that wasn't what caught my attention either.

A hooded dark figure sat in front of the computer, grinning evilly at me. I
couldn't see much under the hood except the feminine lips grinning at me. It was
a witch or sorceress or something of the sort, and it looked like she meant
mischief.

And as intriguing as she was, that wasn't what grabbed my attention either.

There stood Raven, huddling in the far corner, looking frightened out of her
wits.  But it was a stone statue.  And suddenly a horrible realization hit me.

Silver had died supposedly by a Medusa.

Stone statues *everywhere*.

Oh shit!

I quickly backed out of the door and slammed the door shut behind me, fumbling
with my spellbook, looking for that 'protection from gazes' spell.  I found it
and cast it just as the woman flung open the door and kicked me in the stomach,
sending me flying back against the opposite wall, momentarily stunned as the air
rushed out of me.

She came up to me, leaned down in front of me and took off the hood, exposing her
face to me.  Even though I had cast the spell protecting me from that deadly gaze
of hers, I was still apprehensive about looking into her eyes but when I did I
was taken aback.  She was beautiful.  Oh sure, she was evil, her head of hair was
really snakes and she most probably wanted me dead, but still she really was
beautiful.  She had bright green eyes that went with her green hair (the snakes)
quite nicely.

My studious examining of her facial features instead of me turning instantly to
stone must have really pissed her off, because she frowned after a minute or two
and cast some kind of spell of her own.  Then, her spell completed, she spoke for
the first time.

"You've managed to protect yourself from my gaze, but you'll cast no other magic
while your in my home.  Now come with me, we need to talk. I see no reason we
can't be civilized about this."  She stood up and reached a gloved hand out to
me, wanting me to walk with her.  Oh sure, deadly enemy one minute, dinner date
the next.  Right.  This was one messed up lady, I'll tell you that.  Still,
without my magic I was pretty helpless, so I might as well play along until I
find a way out of this mess.

I took her offered hand and stood up, bowing slightly.  "Paul Silver at your
service."

---------

Arianna and I had shared a room that night at the inn and when we heard Paul
screaming we ran into his room and found Paul in his bed covered in blood.  Raven
was curled up in one corner of the bed, a look of horror and disbelief on her
face as she looked at the damage she'd done to Paul.  She started crying and ran
out of the room and we let her go, too worried about Paul to notice her leaving.

Lucky for us, Arianna found a healer or something and he gave this world's
equivalent of an ambulance ride to some temple thing which, by the way Arianna
explained it, sounded like a hospital to me.  While the two of them were  doing
their magic thing I went out of the room and found Raven in our room, on one of
the beds, sobbing and shouting at herself.

I went in and tried to calm her down, wanting to know what had happened.  I
managed to get the basic idea of what had happened.  Apparently the part of her
that's a tiger had been uninhibited by all the alcohol she'd drank.  She said she
didn't know it would affect her like that.  But after I'd gotten that much our of
her she ran out of the room and ran out of the inn.

Before I could even think of following her, Arianna came and got me and we went
to this temple place with the healer guy.

We got there and Paul was rushed off somewhere and Arianna paid them some huge
amount of some kind of money and they assured us he'd be fine.  Well, I'd had it
with this world and told Arianna that I wanted to go back to my world.  She did
something with her hands and suddenly I was standing in my bedroom.  Wow, great
aim.  I went downstairs and told Aunt Sophie that I was back.  I looked at my
watch, it was almost suppertime.

I walked in the kitchen and found her about to fix dinner.  I told her Paul and
Raven had decided to visit with Arianna for a while and that they wouldn't be
back in time for supper.  We talked as I helped her fix supper for the two of us
and Dad and I told her about our trip to Raven and Arianna's world minus the part
about Paul getting hurt.  Arianna had assured me he'd be fine so I trusted her
and decided Aunt Sophie didn't need to hear about it.  After supper I went up to
my room and checked my email on my computer and found an email waiting for from
Jackie.  Jackie lived several miles over and we were the best of friends.  I
called her and we talked for a while.

She said her folks were going on a trip and she had some free time to come visit
if I wanted her to.  It sounded great so replied to her email and told her to
head on over as soon as possible. It was settled,  she'd be over tomorrow by
mid-morning.  I began wondering about the difference in time between our world
and the fantasy one.  Obviously time went by quicker in the fantasy world,
because you can spend a week or two over there and only a few minutes will have
gone by here.  But the maddening thing about it was that the same should hold
true for the other way around.

A couple hours over here should logically correspond to a few months over there
at the very least, but Paul and Arianna had already proved that to be wrong.  I
put all thoughts of the fantasy world out of my mind and got out my diary and
wrote of today's events in it.  I pulled out the ring Grevlok gave me in case I
wanted to get back to visit Arianna and Paul.  Maybe I'd tell Jackie about all
this.  I bet she'd love it over there.  She'd finally be able to use all those
muscles for something other than lifting weights.

I could just see her stomping around in a leotard squashing monsters left and
right.  I giggled hysterically at the mental image I'd evoked.  I *could* see her
doing that, it made it that much funnier.

I went to bed still chuckling at the thought and had an incredibly weird dream
revolving around Jackie and Arianna and woke up with Jackie sitting on the edge
of the bed, smiling at me.

"Good morning, Di."  She leaned forward and kissed me tenderly. "Wow, good
morning!  When did you get here?"  I sat up in bed, the sheets falling away from
my body exposing my small breasts to Jackie.

"Just now, your Mom and Dad are out painting or something so we have the place
all to ourselves."  She dove down onto my chest and locked her lips over my left
nipple, sucking gently as she carressed my upper body.  I let out a contented
sigh and lay my head back, completely surrendering to her loving attentions.

Jackie and I had been lovers for years, although our parents knew none of it.  We
didn't think our parents knew, but neither of us dated boys since we were
completely content with each other.  We were planning on moving in with each
other after high school and attending the same college together.

Suddenly my thought process came to shuddering halt as my body exploded in
orgasm.  Jackie had moved her attentions to my nether regions and she was
feasting on my sex like a starved woman.

I writhed on the bed and moaned as she continued her assault on my senses. I was
in heaven.  Soon however, I couldn't take any more, and I pulled her up onto me
and kissed her savagely, my tongue dwelving deeply into hers. She had been
lifting weights since she was ten and had more muscles than I could count bulging
everywhere.

She was a goddess and I felt so lucky that she loved me as much as I loved her. 
She lay beside me and we cuddled and kissed some more while I came back to
reality.

"Diane, do you have some cousin visiting?  There was some blonde girl on the
porch with your Mom and Dad when I got here.  Who is she?" Jackie mentioning my
Mom made something inside me snap and before I could answer, I was sobbing in her
arms.  It was several minutes before she calmed me down enough to get anything
out of me.  Finally I managed to pull myself together and explained about Mom
dying and Aunt Sophie coming to live with us along with Paul.

I also explained, in detail, about Arianna's world and her.

"Let's get dressed and go down and talk to her.  I'll introduce you.  She's an
elf you know!"

As we were getting dressed, Jackie looked at me questioningly.  "Elf?" "Ya, you
know, pointy ears and all that."  We went downstairs and found the three of them
on the front porch, Aunt Sophie painting Dad while Arianna sat and watched.  Aunt
Sophie greeted us without looking up from her painting and Dad looked over and
smiled at us.  Arianna motioned us over and we walked out onto the grass of the
front lawn and sat down beside her. "Good morning Diane.  Who's your friend
here?"

I introduced Arianna to Jackie and they greeted each other warmly, obviously
pleased with each other.

Arianna leaned me over a bit and whispered to me, "Does she know about you know
what?  I have some news..."  I told her I'd told Jackie everything and that she
could trust her.  She smiled and sat back up. "Good, well Paul's gone to look for
Raven and Grevlok helped him make a homing gem so Paul could find her.  He's been
gone now for over two months and we haven't had any news from him and we were
worried when Grevlok and I couldn't get a good fix on him.  Our tracking spell
hasn't been able to get anything but static so far.  That could mean trouble."

Just then we heard a thud behind us and we looked around to see Aunt Sophie
standing behind us.  "What are you saying?  Paul's in trouble?  Why didn't you
tell me!"  She sat down beside us and said "continue." Arianna did.  "We have a
way to track Paul down, but it'll take someone directly related to him for it to
work.  Sophie I was going to ask Diane to help, but quite frankly we'd get the
job done a lot quicker if you were the one to actually use the talisman, you
being his mother and all.  Its dangerous enough that Grevlok is going with us. 
Perhaps with you and Diane both there, it will work even faster. We can but try."

Aunt Sophie looked at me and stood up.  "Let me explain this to your father and
then we'll go, all right?  Wait just a minute."  She walked up the steps and
consulted Dad who had been watching us intently.  After she was done, Dad stood
up and walked over to us.  "No way I'm missing out on this." He said with a
crooked grin.  We stood in a circle and held hands while Arianna spelled us over
into her world.

Chapter 8

Arianna, Jackie, Aunt Sophie, Dad and I were all in Grevlok's tower, in his lab. 
We were sitting around talking, waiting for Grevlok to join us. Arianna was
telling us about the culture and society in her world, Dad seemed especially
interested in it, when Grevlok came in and introduced himself to the adults.

"Ah, good we're all assembled here."  He bowed gracefully to Aunt Sophie and
smiled.  "You, dear lady, are Paul's mother I presume?"   She nodded her head.

"Well let me first bring all of you up to date then.  Paul's lady friend Raven
ran off in tears when she had unintentionally injured him.  He wasn't gravely
injured and he was healed quickly, but poor Raven must think she killed him or
some such.  So she ran off and Paul, being the gallant hero, went off to find
her.  I helped him make a device with which he could track her, and he went on
his way."

"Arianna and I knew he had a great talent for magic since his alternate self was
a wizard just like us.  In fact I taught Silver myself, so I knew Paul had the
ability.  So the two of us trained Paul in the ways of magic and he did indeed
take it up quickly.  We weren't going to let him go out on such a journey with no
means to defend himself."

Grevlok sat back in his chair and looked over at Arianna.  Arianna spoke up next.
 "Normally we could have just located Raven by magical means, but for whatever
reason, that wasn't working with her, so we had to let Paul track her down
personally.  Now, we were tracking Paul's journey the whole way, making sure he
didn't need our help.  The problem was that at one point, when Paul had seemingly
neared his destination, we lost him. We couldn't locate him the same way we
couldn't locate Raven."  She looked back at Grevlok.  Neither of them liked
giving long speeches so they were dividing it up.

Grevlok pulled a small wand out of his robe and held it up for us to see. "This
is a homing wand.  I've already set it to find Paul, and we need only for a blood
relative to use it."  He handed it over to Dad who in turn gave it to Aunt
Sophie.  She looked at it warily.  "How do I use this thing?"

Arianna came over to her and instructed her on its use.  It had a small blue gem
embedded at one end and it functioned similarly to the one Paul had used, except
this one was a lot more sophisticated.  Small symbols glowed along the length of
the wand which indicated how far Paul was in and in what direction.  The only
small problem was teaching us to read the symbols which were all Dwarvish runes.

It was going to be embarrassingly easy for Aunt Sophie to track Paul down with
the wand, or so they hoped.

I was starting to get claustrophobic in this place and wanted to get going. "So
when do we begin?"

Arianna looked at me and grinned.  "Right now.  Grevlok and I are going with you.
 We should have gone with Paul in the first place."

We left the tower and stood in the glade while Grevlok went about preparing
himself for something.  When he saw us all watching him, he grinned and hurried
his efforts.  "I'm going to try something that will speed up our journey
considerably if it works.  I'm going to attempt to teleport us to our
destination.  Most likely we'll have to stop several times to get our bearings
but I believe, no I hope that this will work!"

We all gathered together in a tight circle and held hands.  Aunt Sophie got the
right direction with the wand and Grevlok made a few elaborate gestures and we
were suddenly in the middle of a forest.  Aunt Sophie got a fix on Paul's
direction with the wand again, and Grevlok again magicked us to a new spot.  This
time we were standing in front of a cave.  We checked the wand again and this
time we stopped in a forest clearing.

There was a stone staircase leading down and several stone statues standing
around.  They all had horribly frightened expressions on their face and looked
eerie.

Arianna's Pseudodragon Sudi, which was a small dragon about the size of a cat,
flew off of its usual perch on her shoulder and landed on one of the statue's
shoulders sniffing curiously.  Arianna walked over to him.  "What is it Sudi?" 
Arianna and her pet stared at each other oddly for a moment or two.  "It's a
person turned to stone?  Oh my, that is serious!  Grevlok come over here."

We all walked over to where Arianna stood and Grevlok pulled out another little
wand out of his robes and touched it the statue's nose as Sudi flew over and
landed on Arianna's left shoulder.

The statue quickly vanished and its place was a very frightened young woman. 
"Where am I?  Where's the witch?"

Grevlok quickly explained the situation to her and she quickly left, eager to get
home.  Grevlok and Arianna went about turning the statues in the clearing back
into flesh and blood, and as they finished, Arianna sighed loudly.  "Well there's
no doubting it now.  There must be a medusa down there.  Did you notice how those
poor victims of hers referred to her as a witch?  That doesn't sound good."

Grevlok went over to the staircase and peered down into the darkness. "This calls
for some preparation."

------

The strange witch led me up some stairs and into a cozy little room with a
fireplace and a small couch.  She led me over to the couch and bade me sit down. 
She removed her robe and underneath was a neck to toe red leather jumpsuit that
hugged her figure quite nicely.  Still, I wanted to know what she'd done to
Raven.

"What have you done with Raven?"

She smiled sweetly and looked over at me.  "Why do you care about that kitty when
you have me?"  She ran her fingers over her bosom and grinned at me.  What did
she expect?  That I'd forget the little detail that she'd turned Raven to stone
and fall madly in love with her?  She must be more messed up than I'd thought.

I got up from the little couch and walked over to the fireplace, gazing at the
fire crackling within, trying to think of something I could do to get out of this
situation.  The witch got up and stood beside me, gazing at my face, studying my
expression.  "My name by the way, is Sarah."  I gave her a questioning look and
she giggled playfully.  "No, it isn't a coincidence that your Aunt bore the same
name.  Not at all."  She laughed at my confusion and took my hand.  "Come, I want
to show you something."

We went through several rooms and came up to a closed door.  I stood in shock as
I realized who I saw in there.  It was me, or more precisely it was Silver.  He
was dressed in a robe similar to Grevlok's but it was silver and blue.  He was
indeed half-elven.  He had pointed ears and his eyes slanted a bit but other than
that we were twins practically.  He looked up when he heard our footsteps and was
just as shocked at my appearance.

She laughed as we looked at each other in total amazement.  "Silver meet Paul
Silver, your alternate self from the other world."  She opened the cell door and
threw me in.  I landed at Silver's feet and she slammed the door shut, magically
locking it once more.  "I would stay and chat, but I have some more uninvited
guests to attend to.  Farewell."  She walked away and I looked over at Silver. 
"We have got to get out of here.  She turned Raven to stone!  Is it possible to
reverse the process magically?"

"Yes, it's possible.  I could do it myself if I had my spellbook." I chuckled as
I fumbled around in my robe.  "That's easy to take care of, here."  I handed him
the small spellbook.

"This is your spellbook, and besides, it doesn't have the necessary spell in it. 
You went off looking for a medusa without the stone to flesh spell?  What kind of
wizard are you?"

"A very incompetent one I'm afraid.  Grevlok and Arianna taught me the basics of
spell casting, but I'm still learning I'm afraid.  At least I had the sense to
caste the gaze resistance spell before confronting her, or this would be a very
one sided conversation."  I said, smiling.

"Yes I suppose so."  He sat back down and looked down at the floor.

"She's had me locked up in here for over a year.  I always hoped Arianna or
Grevlok would come rescue me but no one ever came."

I looked over at him frowning.  "Everyone thought you were dead, Raven included."

He frowned at that and looked down at the floor.  "I haven't seen her for a long
time."

I sat down on the floor of the cell and tried to think of something that would
help us get out of the cell.  It was then that I remembered that dagger that I'd
put in my pack back in Grevlok's tower.  I looked in my pack (which the witch had
conveniently forgotten about) and took it out and showed it to Silver.  "Can you
use this to pick the lock?"

He looked up briefly and stared at the dagger.  "Nope, the door's been locked
magically.  Not much we can do until she comes back.  Grevlok was originally from
your world you know.  When he came over here, he learned the ways of magic from a
master wizard just like I'm, well we're, doing from him.  But the gateways to
your world have been closed for years.  They became too unstable to use and
finally disappeared.  I wonder how they became re-opened?"

I looked over at him and wondered the same thing myself.  However it happened,
I'm certainly glad it did, otherwise I would have never met Rav... what am I
thinking?  She's Silver's wife!  Now I was as depressed as Silver was, albeit for
different reasons.

------

After Grevlok and Arianna cast some protective spells, we went down into the
gloom, lit only by Grevlok's staff, and were confronted with dozens, if not
hundreds, of more statues that held more victims.

I felt bad for all those people, but I was more concerned with finding Paul.  We
began walking down the sparse corridor and stopped only when Sudi flew off of
Arianna's shoulders and flew around to a large statue of a dragon.  Sudi seemed
upset about something and Arianna quickly went over to him, communicating with
him.

She spoke up, "Sudi says its a real dragon, someone he knows, but a dragon
couldn't be affected by a medusa's gaze!  Its inherent magic resistance would
protect it from that, surely.  What do you think Grevlok?"

Aunt Sophie looked at me questioningly and I just shrugged.  Dad seemed
fascinated by the dragon and went over to it with Grevlok.

"Yes, I agree.  I don't understand it either.

Grevlok pointed his wand at the dragon and it suddenly came to life, pawing the
ground angrily.  Sudi flew up to it and the two of them seemed to have a *very*
interesting conversation, unfortunately Adrianna failed to translate it for us. 
The dragon flew off, I guess it was just glad to be free again.

"I propose that we continue on our way."  Grevlok stated.

We walked up to the corridor and came to the open doorway that Paul had so
recently, unknown to us, met the witch in and peered inside.  I was the first to
see Raven and I pointed her out and ran over to her with the others right behind
me.  Grevlok immediately turned her back to normal and she collapsed in my and
Jackie's arms.

"Raven are you okay?  How did you get here?"  I asked, concerned. Before she
could say anything, the door shut behind us and a lady in a red leather jumpsuit
stood facing us.  The witch, I presumed.  Raven quickly closed her eyes and
cowered in my arms, obviously frightened.  I looked more closely at the lady and
saw that her hair was really snakes, gross.

"Uninvited guests, how nice."  She raised her arms up in the air hurled some
spell at us, but it didn't reach us, instead it bounced back straight at her. 
She was unprepared for this and disappeared in a plume of smoke. Grevlok began
laughing hysterically.  He had to lean against his staff to keep from falling
over.  Arianna seemed to share in his mirth but the rest of us were puzzled.

Arianna saw our confusion and let us in on the joke.  "She tried to send us to
hell, but one of the spells Grevlok cast before we came down here was a 'spell
deflection' spell that made her spell bounce right back at her.  If she'd been an
experienced witch she would have thought of that.  That's one of the oldest
tricks in the book!!"  She and Grevlok chuckled a minute more and then grew
serious.

"Well let's go find Paul.  He must be here somewhere."  Grevlok said while
leading us out of the small room.  I noticed the computer sitting there and
mentioned it to Arianna who seemed interested in it.  We walked up a small flight
of stairs and found a small room with a fireplace and a couch and another doorway
leading somewhere.

-----

Silver and I had been in the cell for about two hours when we finally heard
footsteps approaching.  It was, well, everyone!  Mom?  What the heck was she
doing here?  At least Raven was all right.  They came up to the cell door and
Arianna had it open in a flash and came in and hugged her brother tightly. 
"Silver!  You're alive!"  It was a teary reunion for both of them and I walked
out of the cell and approached Raven.

"Well I'm glad your okay.  Guess who I found?"  I smiled broadly and gestured
behind me.  She was dumbstruck.  She slowly walked over to Silver and looked into
his eyes as he untangled himself from his sister and turned toward Raven. 
"Raven..."

I couldn't stand there and watch it.  It hurt too much.  Now that Silver was
back, Raven would be going back to him.  They were, after all, married.

I walked out of the hall and back to the entrance and went outside, sitting down
on a rock and cried.  I hadn't cried when Aunt Sarah died, hadn't cried when Dad
left Mom and me, but I did now.  I heard footsteps behind me, and turned around
finding Mom there looking concerned.

I walked over to her and buried my head in her shoulders, and cried. Things get a
little fuzzy after that.  Mom told me later that she had Grevlok spell her and me
back home and she held me on my bed until I cried myself to sleep.  When I woke
up, I was alone in my room and I heard voices outside in the hallway.  There was
a knock at my door and Raven walked in and closed the door behind her.

"I know you probably don't want to talk right now, but I think we should. Your
mother seemed very concerned for you.  Paul why did you just assume I'd blindly
go back to Silver?"  I sat up in the bed and she sat down in my lap, facing me.

"But you're married to him.  He has more of a right to you than I do."  I
couldn't make myself look into her eyes.  She took my chin and made me look up at
her.

"Paul there's something you ought to know.  It turns out the only reason the
gateway between our worlds was open was because of that witch opening them.  When
she was killed, they became unstable again.  I'm afraid the gateways have
collapsed completely.  There was little time to think about it, Grevlok had to
send your Uncle, Diane, and her friend back over here before it collapsed and I
just had to come back for you.  So it looks like your stuck with me, big guy."

She kissed me playfully on the lips and sat back, grinning from ear to ear. "You
mean?"  She nodded yes and kissed me again. "I love you Paul.  Don't you see
that?  Silver was always so wrapped up in his magic studies that he hardly had
time for me, that's why Arianna was so mad that I took him away from her.  They
were lovers before he met me you know.  They're more suited for each other then
he ever was for me, you know.  Then I found you.  You were a dream come true for
me.  So you are mine now, deal with it!"  She kissed me savagely and I eagerly
returned the kiss, not believing my good luck.  I thanked god for bringing her
back to me and put all my attentions on the woman in my lap.  Soon we were both
nude and she was on top of me, slowly fucking me while we continued kissing.

She arched her back and orgasmed violently, crying out in abandonment. Unnoticed
by us, who wouldn't notice if a missile hit the house at that point, Mom opened
the door a crack and smiled when she saw us, then closed the door quietly and
went back to the living room to find *her* man.  She was horny as hell and needed
a good fuck as much as Raven had.  She found Jack in their bed reading and
quickly stripped off her nightgown, standing nude in front of the bed.

Jack looked up from his book and found the beautiful, nude Sophie standing there
looking horny.

"Wow, what's the occasion?"  He put the book down and grinned over at her,
unbuttoning his shirt.

"Raven screwing my son silly, getting me horny as hell.  Think you can handle
it?"  She smiled mischievously and crawled onto the bed, spreading her legs for
her lover.  Jack entered her easily and both of them sighing contentedly.

Diane and her girlfriend Jackie were similarly occupied, making slow love to each
other, both eagerly devouring the others' sex.

Raven and I made love all night practically and slept until noon the next day. 
Within a week, both Raven and Mom found out they were pregnant and Mom and Uncle
Jack got engaged.  I proposed to Raven the very next day and we got engaged as
well.  I don't know what the future will hold for us, but we can face it as long
as we're together.